


Khronicles of Fire and Ice (Book 2)

by Crystal_Prisom



Series: The Hellspawn & The Cryomancer, The Lin Kuei & The Shirai Ryu [2]
Category: Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Funny Kuai Liang, Gen, He’s Just Sad, Kenshi is a Good Friend, Lots of plot, More plot, Nightwolf is a Good Friend, Sad Kuai Liang, sad Hanzo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28584384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystal_Prisom/pseuds/Crystal_Prisom
Summary: *Takes place 7 years after the events of the last story arc in Book 1. If you want to know what is going on, read Chapters 28-30 in “Khronicles of Fire and Ice (Book 1) to catch up!*It has been seven years since Kuai Liang left the Lin Kuei to live his own life - he is now Dr. Stephen Frost; the famous, innovative, intelligent, and kind neurosurgeon. However, despite his efforts to forge a new identity, his past inevitably catches up with him as he reunites with old allies and meets new ones.Meanwhile, Hanzo Hasashi is fighting his own battles on his front with the Specia Forces, Edenians, and Outworlders. There’s a threat looming over the horizon, and to defeat this “new” threat, it will require them to complete the impossible first:Find Kuai Liang.
Relationships: Frost & Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero, Hanzo Hasashi | Scorpion & Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero, Harumi "Kana" Hasashi/Hanzo Hasashi | Scorpion, Jackson "Jax" Briggs/Vera Briggs, Jacqui Briggs/Takahashi Takeda, Jade/Kotal Kahn (Mortal Kombat), Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero & Kenshi, Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero & Nightwolf, Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero & Noob Saibot | Bi-Han, Liu Kang/Kitana, Noob Saibot | Bi-Han/Sareena, Sonya Blade/Johnny Cage
Series: The Hellspawn & The Cryomancer, The Lin Kuei & The Shirai Ryu [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094456
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Old Faces, New Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuai Liang - now Stephen Frost - is visited by a ghost from his past.

The familiar sounds of the electrocardiogram machine provided a comforting environment for the head neurosurgeon of the hospital as he got prepared for the extraction of the brain tumor in a patient’s parietal lobe.

The head surgeon walked into the operating room after being properly sanitized and covered. He walked over to the patient who had been put under by the anesthesia team, nodding in the direction of the assembled nurses and technicians on standby. He nodded once at them, speaking through his mask, “Thank you, everyone. Let’s make this quick and simple without any complications, alright?” He gave a rallying speech to them all - it was customary of the doctor to treat his staff with the utmost respect; the nurses and technicians in the other medical departments were envious of those who had managed to land a spot in the doctor’s medical staff.

He turned to face three other people who were standing the closest to the patient. “We’re removing a benign brain tumor on the parietal lobe,” the doctor spoke again, addressing his residents, “How do we get access to it?”

“Cut through the scalp and peel it back?” one of the residents asked hesitantly.

The doctor shrugged. “I guess so. Is that an answer or a question, Travis?”

The man repeated what he had said, this time with more certainty.

The neurosurgeon nodded in approval, taking a scalpel that had been offered by a technician as he started to cut through the skin. “Alright, this is done,” he announced to the room. “Who can tell me what to do next?”

“Take the drill and go through the skull to get access to the brain and locate the tumor,” Travis spoke again, feeling confident.

“That’s right,” another resident spoke up, “we know where the tumor is resting. You only have to cut away a small part of the skull to get access.”

“True, Nora,” the neurosurgeon spoke, shrugging his shoulders. “Or, I could just do this.”

Without warning, the doctor took a pair of sterilized scissors and cut off a small lump attached to the peeled back scalp.

“Well, that was easy,” he huffed, laughing at the shocked faces of the residents.

“The file did say that there was a benign tumor resting over the parietal lobe,” he explained to ease their confusion, “but it's cases like these that prove why it is important to _always_ double-check. I requested a CT to be taken before surgery. Do you know what it showed? The tumor was above the parietal lobe, alright, but it was resting _above_ the skull, not below it.”

He walked out of the operating room and moved to the sinks, disposing of his gloves and protective gown properly in the disposal bin, pulling the mask from his face as he removed the protective glasses. “Dr. Frost!” one of his residents called out to him as they were undressing as he had done.

Stephen turned to face his three residents who were shifting nervously on their feet. “We’re going out tonight,” one of them spoke, “We’re going to that bar on the corner of 4th Street; did you want to come with us?”

The neurosurgeon gave a small smile. “Unfortunately, I can't,” he said in an apologetic tone. “I’ve got a social-connections party I'm required to attend. Maybe some other time, Jordan. Go out and have fun; remember, tomorrow we have an aneurysm clipping, so don't go crazy,” he warned before walking out of the room and heading to his office.

Closing the door behind him, Stephen made his way to his desk where he sat down behind his computer, putting on his glasses to finalize the last few reports for the surgical procedures he had completed. It had taken a while for him to get through medical school, with his own residency and fellowship, but the payoff was worth it. Now, he was a top neurosurgeon recognized by the medical board, and could now pass on what he had learned to other people.

Stephen hadn't known that he wanted to pursue a career in medicine; there was just something about the hospital environment that called to him. Either way, he was helping people and saving lives, which was what he wanted to do in the first place. He finalized the report, logging off of the computer as he stood up to leave, gathering his belongings.

As he opened the door, he came to a stop with his jacket folded over his left forearm. "Hi, Lana," Stephen greeted.

The head doctor of the cardiology department smiled up at him in greeting. "Good evening, Stephen," she replied in turn. She was a small, petite woman with jet black hair and an angular face. Her long hair was always tied back in a ponytail, reaching her waist in length. She always wore a vibrant pink lipstick and carried herself proudly and confidently.

The two had met at Stephen's first conference with the hospital board to discuss financial issues; when they had met, Stephen had watched as Lana had stormed up to her best friend at the time - the head of General Surgery - and thrown her scalding cup of coffee onto his expensive suit.

It had been _hilarious._

As it turns out, Lana had discovered that her friend had been posting awful and lewd comments about her on his private social media page. She had been devastated about the encounter, especially since they had been friends since high school and attended the same college. Stephen found her crying in a supply closet after the meeting was over, and she had immediately glared at him when she saw him in the doorway.

"Can't I get one moment to myself?" she said through gritted teeth.

"I don't know about that," Stephen said, panicking as he stumbled over his words, "I mean, the only way to be _truly_ alone is when you're six feet under the ground in your coffin. But you shouldn't want that! There's more to life than one friend... I'm going to shut up now," he stuttered, closing the door quickly.

He had wanted to smack himself in the head. After all of that, he _still_ didn't get the Milky Way bar he had stashed in the room - his residents kept sneaking into his office to steal his candy, which forced him to take drastic measures.

Instead of walking away from the closet, Stephen had steeled himself and opened the door again, ignoring Lana's look of astounded fury. He cringed, giving her a kicked-puppy look. "... Sssssorry," he said with an apologetic tone as he slid in sideways to stay as far away from her as he could. He stuck his arm out behind the bottles of bleach, retrieving his chocolate bar. He held it up in the air with a small exclamation of triumph.

Lana had stared at the candy bar before fixing Stephen with an incredulous expression.

Remembering his place, Stephen had shuffled awkwardly out the room again, looking back to Lana for one last time. "I'm really sorry about what happened," he said sincerely, "I hope that you realize that you don't owe him any more time."

The next day, he found a Twix bar on his desk with a note: _Lana. Thanks._

Since then, the two became close friends. They would go out drinking together and walk through the city in one of Lana's shopping sprees while Stephen accompanied her. Their relationship was also strictly platonic, despite what other people thought when they saw them together. 

"Are you ready for the gala?" Lana asked Stephen presently, giving him room to step out of the office and lock it behind him. 

"No," Stephen huffed, crossing his arms and pouting as they walked to the exit. "You know that social interactions and I do NOT mix."

She giggled lightly, shooting him a wry smile. "What car are you picking me up in?" It was agreed prior to the gala that Stephen would pick her up at her house and drive her to the gathering. They chose to do this so that both could use each other as an excuse - should someone try to make a move on them.

Stephen hummed in thought. "I don't know. Should I pull out the Aston Martin or the Lamborghini?"

"Aston Martin," she stated with absolute certainty. "It's classy and perfect for this occasion. Don't forget to wear a tie - bowties don't look that good on you."

"Ouch," Stephen said jokingly, giving her a look of betrayal. "No, you're right. It _does_ look weird on me."

They stepped outside, Stephen holding the door open for Lana to walk through first. She gave him a smile as she was about to enter her car in the parking lot of the hospital. "Don't forget," she warned him, "Seven o'clock. Exactly three hours later. Don't be late."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Stephen replied.

* * *

Stephen drove into the no-outlet road that led to his house, driving past trees into a thick and dense forest.

He had moved out of the apartment complex when it no longer suited his needs; by then, he had earned enough money to be able to indulge in himself and purchase expensive properties. His new house, located in the back of these woods, was elegant and modern in its design. It was also very large as well, giving him plenty of extra space than he actually needed, but he didn't mind the space; it made the house feel less compact and imprisoning.

While it was a ways away from the city where his workplace was, he enjoyed the relative quietness of the environment and didn't mind the long commutes. Besides, he had purchased the house for a reason; the woods gave his pets the entire woods to run and frolic in their own free time.

They knew when he came home - at precisely 4:50 PM every day on the weekdays. As he was stepping out of the car he used to commute to work, an Audi, he could hear the near-silent flapping of wings in the air as his dragons came to him. He could never hear where Nox was - she had discovered the new ability to walk in complete silence, blending in with her environment as she sprinted back to the house.

Stephen grinned, looking up as his three dragons descended from the sky. Over the years, they had grown to an impressive height and size; they were as tall as the tallest oak trees in the forest and their heads were bigger than Stephen's car. Nox, similarly, was also near fully grown. She stood a foot taller than Stephen, who was about 6'2". She now bounded into the clearing, barking loudly with enough force to cause the trees to shake nearby.

After giving them some welcoming pets, Stephen entered his house through the front door, flicking on the light switch in the hallway as he hung his jacket in the hallway closet. He walked down to reach the living room, walking past it to enter the kitchen. He was about to flick on the light switch when he froze, his eyes picking up on a silhouette in the darkness. 

Slowly, the figure leaned to the side in their seat at the kitchen countertop, flicking on the other light switch in the kitchen. 

Stephen breathed out. "Kenshi."

The blind telekinetic warrior nodded once at Stephen, a small smile on his face. "Hello, Kuai Liang. Nice hair - it makes you look years younger."

Stephen ignored his words, moving forward to take a seat across from Kenshi. "It's Stephen Frost, now. And the aging thing is a side effect of me being an Elder God - I actually was getting younger with each passing day. I stopped regressing about three years ago; I'm about 27, now."

Kenshi hummed, tilting his head as he studied Stephen. "I know. Your energy feels dulled - you've been suppressing them? Smart, to avoid getting tracked by the Elder Gods. I also know about Stephen Frost - you've made quite the name for yourself."

Stephen let out a stressed breath. He knew that he was taking a risk by doing so well in his job - there were images of his face in magazines and medical journals; had the others found him? Picking up on his worried, thanks to his powers, Kenshi shook his head. "No one else knows. Your secret is safe with me."

"Why are you here, Kenshi?" Stephen asked. "Don't get me wrong; it's great to see you again, but something tells me that this isn't a social visit."

The blind man shook his head. "I can't tell you," he said. "Not if you want me to drag you back into this life. All I can tell you is that I've been looking for you for a long time. Since you left all those years ago, I've been searching for you. Takeda was with me, but I've sent him back to the Special Forces - I needed an inside man."

"There's a mole?!" Stephen asked incredulously.

"Absolutely not," Kenshi dismissed. "I just needed a person to let me know what was happening on the other side. There's... something stirring up in the air. It's putting the Elder Gods on edge."

"Why are you telling me this?" Stephen demanded. 

"To tell you the truth," Kenshi confessed, "I had come to seek your help. However, it is painfully clear that you don't want to return to this life. I will leave you be, friend."

He got up, strapping Sento onto his back as he headed to the front door. "Be careful, Kuai," he warned. "Strange things are happening." With those ominous words, the telepathic man disappeared out of the house.

Stephen sat back in his chair, feeling drained of all energy with the encounter. He was shaken slightly, but he pushed the haunting memories out of his head as he went upstairs to get ready.

* * *

Hanzo grit his teeth as he faced down a horde of Netherrealm demons, cutting them down to keep them away from the Special Forces base.

The base had been under siege for the past month - the demons and other horrific creatures of the Netherrealm kept coming and never seemed to stop. They had already inflicted substantial damage to the military base, but still, they were all trying to save the place.

Every day was the same; the demons would attack in the morning at daybreak, charging the place with their overwhelming numbers. Then, they'd retreat as the sun was setting, fleeing through portals that suddenly appeared as they returned to their homeworld. While they could have captured the place if they wanted to, they continued to retreat every day. It was as if the person commanding them was mocking them - _I have you. You can't win._

With each and every passing battle, Hanzo could feel his energy dwindling. As the demons fled and he looked around, he could see that his comrades were suffering in a similar way. The Earthrealmers, Outworlders, and Edenians were struggling to stay on their feet as they limped slowly back to the base. Even the Elder Gods were spent, using all of their magic to keep them alive.

Hanzo followed the group to the conference room where Harumi was sitting with Satoshi in her lap. She looked up at him worryingly, but Hanzo gave a small reassuring smile to try and comfort her. 

"We have to leave," Cassie argued with her mother. "This is a dying fight; we're all spent, and there's still a lot of demons. We can't win. We have to evacuate now while we still have the time."

Over the past two weeks, Sonya had been evacuating the soldiers who resided on the base as they held them off for them to escape. Now, only the kombatants were left, but Sonya refused to leave. Now, however, she was broken and tired, and she only nodded in agreement.

"Pack up the last equipment," she said. "Let's get out of here."

Hanzo felt sympathy for the General; this place had so many memories and meant a lot to her, he could tell that she was going through a rough time. Johnny hugged her comfortingly as the others started to help with cleaning up. Once all of the technology had been packed away, Raiden and Fujin raised their arms, teleporting the entire group out of the room and into the hidden room with the Hourglass.

Raiden walked up to the Hourglass, placing a hand on the glass. "Where did it all go wrong?" he asked rhetorically. "How did they grow so quickly under our own noses? I have failed."

"Do you know what is going on?" Harumi whispered to her husband, walking away from Frost. She had formed a close connection with the new Lin Kuei Grandmaster and sent a pointed look at Bi-Han and Tomas, who were standing next to Hanzo. She still had her misgivings toward the two former Lin Kuei assassins in the aftermath of Kuai's departure from the group. 

"The demons were collecting blood from us," Hanzo explained. "But not just from random people; they were getting blood from the Elder Gods. Raiden thinks that there is an ancient serpent that sleeps under the Earth that can only be awoken with the blood of the Elder Gods. According to procephies and stories, it's supposed to devour the world."

"Doomsday," Raiden said, picking up on their conversation. "Doomsday - the end of the world - is upon us. They got my blood in the fight today; they have all of our blood, enough to open the vault and awaken the beast. We have failed; it is too late. We must travel to the vault to prevent them from reaching the door."

Rain frowned as he leaned against a wall. "No; they only have five vials. Five vials of blood from each of us."

"Yes, and?" Erron snapped, sitting slumped on the ground as he recovered. "Your point?"

"There's six," Kotal rumbled, staring off into the distance. "Six Elder Gods. They only have five vials. They don't have the sixth."

Harumi's mouth thinned into a straight line. "Kuai Liang," she said. "They need Kuai's blood."

Hanzo's chest clenched at the mention of the cryomancer's name. Beside him, he could sense Bi-Han flinch as if he had been struck with a bullet while Tomas raised a hand to cover his mouth. They had all wronged him on that day, those three even more so than the others. Because of them, Kuai had left his post as Lin Kuei Grandmaster and disappeared. Hanzo, Bi-Han, and Tomas had spent the past years coming onto the Special Forces base to look at the surveillance images and satellites throughout the world, trying to locate him, but were unsuccessful in all attempts.

"We don't even know where he is," Liu Kang said, frustration leaking into his voice. "How are we going to warn him?"

Hanzo noticed that Takeda's head tilted to the side - a sign that he was giving a telepathic message - but his student was quick to return to normal, not saying anything.

The Shirai Ryu sighed, looking at Raiden, who continued to stare at the Hourglass with a blank expression. 

"We must find him," the Thunder God finally said. "The fate of the world depends on his safety. We will depart tomorrow; search the realms and upturn every corner. Bring him back here."

* * *

It was after the party when everything started to go wrong. 

Stephen and Lana had left as soon as they were allowed to, and the two were driving to Stephen's house in the woods where a bottle of wine was in his fridge, waiting to be opened. Stephen had told his pets to stay away from the house when he got home, and the two friends were currently driving down the winding road leading to Stephen's house.

Once he had parked the car, Stephen sighed contently, looking over to the woman in his passenger seat. "That guy was an asshole, huh?"

He was referring to an old man who had approached the two during the gala. When Stephen had accidentally suggested that he and Lana were just friends, the creep had slid up next to Lana and placed a hand on her back, which was not covered by her flowy pale pink dress.

Stephen had chosen to "accidentally" slip, upending the contents of his champagne flute into the man's face.

It felt _good._

Lana snorted at the memory, shaking her head in disgust. "That was pretty bad," she acknowledged, smirking at Stephen. "The first one to the door gets the first AND last sip from the bottle!" She took off out of the car, running surprisingly quickly in her heels as Stephen was left cursing, trying to unbuckle his seatbelt. 

As he was slamming his car door shut and locked it with the remote key, he looked up to see that Lana was already at the door, one hand planted firmly on the wood. Stephen threw his hands up in the air, laughing along with her. "How the hell did you run so fast in those heels?" he said, not moving forward yet as he stood still next to his car.

A strange expression crossed Lana's face before it was smoothed over with a smirk. "Practice, of course," she teased.

As Stephen made a single step forward to join her, there was rapid and fast movement coming from his left, out of the tree line. He was too late to react as a weight barrelled into his side, throwing him up against the side of his car.

Hitting his head on the rebound as it hit the car, Stephen shook his head as his vision started to blur, falling to the ground onto his knees. He slowly looked up, gasping when he saw the creature standing over him. 

It was a Netherrealm demon looming over him, claws out and ready to strike him down. It opened its jaw and screeched - then, to Stephen's surprise, it procured a small silver vial adorned with a ruby lid. It let out an ear-splitting screech, tilting its head up to the sky as it screamed its victory.

Before it could do anything, however, there was another snarl, and in a flash of black fur and teeth, Nox was on the demon, closing her mouth over the top half of the demon as she shook her head back and forth, violently shaking the demon in her mouth until his lower half started to separate from it top half, the teeth cutting through the flesh. The legs of the demon fell to the ground, and Nox started to swallow the top half that was in her mouth, purring contently.

Stephen struggled to get up, but his head was split open, and his head was woozy as the world started to spin in circles. Suddenly, through the darkness of the surrounding trees, Stephen realized that there was a small army of the Netherrealm demons hiding in the brush. As they started to charge at him, the three frost dragon siblings arrived on the scene, shooting jets of cold flames at the demons to stop them in their tracks. Nox crouched low to the ground, protecting her master.

The night erupted with blood, the screams of the Netherrealms demons, and the snarling of Stephen's animals as they wiped out the horde of demons. At that point, it all became too much, and Stephen let his body slump to the ground, his head hitting the concrete of the driveway. 

Suddenly, humans appeared in his vision. He took in the sight of Lana's blurry face, but there were others behind her.

"Bring him with us," a man behind her spoke. 

"We're supposed to be looking for the last Elder God," Lana argued. "We don't have time to help regular citizens!"

"Don't you see?" another man spoke, leaning closer to Stephen's face as he was slowly losing conscience, "This _is_ the last Elder God."

"Welcome back, Kuai Liang."

With that, _Kuai_ fell into the darkness and comfort of sleep.


	2. A Ragtag Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo sets out with Bi-Han, Tomas, Frost, and Harumi as they try and look for Kuai.
> 
> Meanwhile, Stephen Frost faces the prospect of becoming Kuai Liang again as he is given the bad news.

Hanzo threw his bag into the trunk of the car before slamming the trunk shut. 

He walked around the back of the car to take his seat in the passenger's spot, looking to his left toward Bi-Han who was starting to put the car in drive. Raiden had split the kombatants into groups for their search parties, all tasked with the job to find Kuai Liang and bring him back home so that he could be properly protected.

Harumi, Frost, and Tomas sat in the backseat. Hanzo's wife was sitting in the middle seat, having offered to take it graciously. That left Frost to sit behind Bi-Han and Tomas to sit behind Hanzo. Frost and Harumi were talking softly in low voices, making their conversation a little hard to hear. They were very close friends, now, having bonded over fond memories of Kuai Liang as they mourned his sudden departure.

As if sensing his thoughts, Frost looked up at Hanzo and glared spitefully.

The Shirai Ryu turned around to face forward in his seat, staring ahead as the car started to roll forward. Thanks to the letters that Kuai had been sending Frost over the years, they knew that the cryomancer was somewhere in the United States. Because magic could not be used to locate him and technology had also failed, Raiden had sent them to look for the man in person. He had sent the Edenians to look in the expansive Mountain region, the Shaolin Monks to the Pacific region, the Special Forces to search the Central region, and Hanzo's group to scour the Eastern region. 

Raiden had advised it might take them a while, but it was better than nothing.

"Can you turn on the radio?" Tomas asked from behind Hanzo. "I left my earbuds behind."

"No," Bi-Han snapped. "Your taste in music is horrible - I still can't believe you listen to that techno shit."

Tomas gave an affronted look as Frost crossed her arms. "Kuai always had the best music," she said sourly, staring out the window. "He'd play it for us on the speakers inside the training rooms for the students."

"Really?" Harumi asked, trying to get everyone to settle down and lower the tenseness of the atmosphere. "What did he listen to?"

"My Chem, Panic, Fall Out Boy," Frost listed off, "Queen, Green Day, and a lot of the older rock bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden. Those were the good days before it all went to shit," she said, glaring daggers at Bi-Han in front of her.

Hanzo shut his eyes tightly. This was going to be a _long_ ride.

* * *

When Stephen opened his eyes, he found himself lying in a cot that was made of scratchy material.

He sat upright immediately, looking around wildly as he tried to discern where he was. Stephen was still wearing the suit that he had worn to the gala the night before, but it was dirty and torn in some places. He remembered what had happened before he had been knocked out; while he didn't understand what was going on, he sure as hell wasn't sticking around to find out.

Stephen stood up on his feet, crouching low as he pulled on his powers slightly. He formed a knife made of ice for protection, the muscle memory and practice making the formation of the weapon easily, as though he had been fighting yesterday. He slowly crept across the floor, hiding behind the adjacent wall of the door as he waited for someone to walk in.

As soon as the door swung open, Stephen wrapped his arm around the person's chest, holding his forearm firmly against their chest as he held the knife up to the woman's throat. "Where am I?" he growled.

"You're in Virginia," the woman replied immediately. "We're not here to hurt you."

"Then why am I here?" Stephen asked frustratingly, digging the knife into her neck a little more. He slowly pushed her out of the room, going to the front door of the cabin as he kicked the door down. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"The world is ending," she said. "There is a large serpent sleeping under the Earth. Some legends say that he sleeps in the core of the Earth. When the gateway is opened, he will rise up to devour every living thing in sight. To open that gate, one would need blood from all six Elder Gods - there are demons and other people after you; we were trying to protect you."

Stephen snarled. "Really? What did you do to my dragons? Where's my direwolf? How do I know that you're not trying to open it?"

"Kuai Liang, stop!"

Stephen reacted to his real name, turning around to see a man standing in the clearing. The raven-haired had red face paint covering his face and wore a leather vest. The most notable feature about him, however, was the wolf headpiece that he was wearing.

The cryomancer breathed out in recognition. "Nightwolf."

"Let Sareena go, Kuai," the shaman said. "She is right; we are trying to help you. Please, let her go so we can explain everything."

Stephen's grip loosened, letting the woman - Sareena - go. She stumbled away toward Nightwolf, rubbing her neck soothingly as she looked back at Stephen with distrustful eyes. 

It was now that Stephen took in the sight around him. He had stumbled out of a log cabin - the place that he had woken up in. Surrounding the area was a forest, the trees looming over the clearing on all sides. It was similar to the place where Stephen had been living, but it clearly wasn't. "Where are we?" Stephen asked. "Where are my dragons and direwolf?"

Another voice spoke up from behind Stephen, causing him to turn around. "Your dragons and direwolf are fine, Kuai Liang," Kenshi spoke as he made his way over to them, two people trailing behind him. "They are running around these woods."

Stephen's jaw dropped. "Lana?"

"My real name is Li Mei," she said apologetically. "I was at the hospital to try and find the missing Elder God - Nightwolf sensed a disturbance in the Earth and knew it was the serpent. He also heard about an Elder God that had gone missing, and with his powers, he was able to narrow your location to here. I was at the hospital to try and see if you would come in - I didn't know that you were working there."

As Stephen's mind was whirling to take it all in, Kenshi placed a hand on his back comfortingly. "No more secrets," he said firmly. "The circumstances have changed; right now, I'm afraid that you're going to have to take up the sword again, my friend." He led Stephen to a cleared-out area behind the house that had lawn chairs spread open. Stephen took a seat as the five other people did the same, all of them looking at the cryomancer.

"So," Nightwolf spoke, trying to be amiable, "you went from bashing people's brains to saving them."

"Don't distract from the important stuff," Stephen retorted, "my blood is needed to open an ancient door that will release an ancient creature, who will destroy the world. That's why you _kidnapped_ me; you want to protect me, right? What about the other Elder Gods? Shouldn't you warn them?"

"They already know," the last unnamed man spoke. "It was through your friends that we came to know about this. Your friends - the Earthrealmers, Outworlders, Edenians, and Elder Gods - were under attack at the Special Forces base. They managed to escape with minimal injury, but during the fighting, the Netherrealm demons succeeded in obtaining the Elder Gods' blood. You're the last one."

Stephen turned to Kenshi and Nightwolf. "Where do you keep finding these nutjobs?" he asked.

"They come to me," Kenshi shrugged.

Nightwolf just folded his arms silently.

"My name is Taven," the man spoke. "I stopped an apocalyptic event like the one happening now years ago. There was a being who went by the name of "Blaze," by defeating him, I saved the realms and prevented Armageddon."

"All these fancy names for the end of the world," Stephen muttered. "Just call it the end of the world."

Taven pointedly ignored the cryomancer. "You must understand why we're doing this. I know that you tried to leave this life behind, but it's not done with you, yet. What will you do? Will you return to your life as Dr. Stephen Frost, or will you embrace your destiny - save the realms - as Kuai Liang, the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei?"

"Former Grandmaster," Stephen corrected. 

He turned to look at the members of the group. "Even if I did agree to this, what are we going to do? Run and hide? They're not going to give up, and we can't run forever. Are you going to take me back to the others?"

Kenshi shook his head firmly. "No; absolutely not. After the way they treated you that day, I'm not letting them know anything. The door can only be opened once every hundred years on the night of a blood moon, which means that you don't have to hide for long. We're going to go to Alaska. It's a remote land that makes it hard for most people to open a portal there. I also have a vacation house up there that is isolated up in the mountains; I'd take Takeda during the summers whenever there was a heatwave. We'll stay there. Under normal circumstances, I'd just have us take a plane. However, we don't have the luxury of time."

"You're going to need to teleport us there," Nightwolf finished shortly. "I know that you've been suppressing your powers; Kenshi told me himself. If you want to live, you'll have to accept them and yourself for who you really are."

Stephen bit the inside of his cheek. He hated to leave his pleasant life as a neurosurgeon behind, but he knew that he wouldn't make it through the week without help or the use of his powers. He whistled loudly and shrilly, the sound piercing the air as his dragons flew to him, followed closely by Nox. Breathing deeply, Stephen reached inside himself as he slowly started to tug at his chi that had been lying dormant for the past years.

Kuai Liang, the former Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, held out his hand as a flash of neon blue light engulfed the people and animals, and they disappeared from view.

* * *

Kenshi had given Kuai an image of his cabin in Alaska so that the cryomancer could picture where he was pulling everyone. However, because he had never been there before AND also because he was rusty with using his powers, the landing was a _bit_ rough.

Rather, everyone started rolling down the snowy slope.

In defense of himself, Kuai _had_ gotten close; as they tumbled down the hill, he could see the looming log cabin on a relatively flat surface carved into the mountain, obstructing it from view when held at different angles. However, he had not gotten close enough, and that was why he was falling down the mountain, trying to avoid the jutting rocks and trees on his way down.

The three dragon siblings had spread their wings and taken off to the sky, soaring above the humans as they took in the chaos below. Nox, with her thick pads underneath her paws, had obtained a firm grip on the ground below her and was strutting here-and-there on her snowshoe feet.

Kuai flinched as he narrowly avoided cracking his head open on a rock that had been concealed under the thick blanket of snow, reaching out with his arms to hold onto something - anything - to slow his fall. He could hear someone grunting above him as they rolled down at an impressive speed, as Kuai's hand finally wrapped around a low-hanging branch of a sloped tree; his fingers curled tightly around the limb until his knuckles were white. 

Looking up, Kuai saw that many of the others were a little ways above him. Kenshi had thought quickly and used his telekinesis to pull himself and Li Mei out of the snow, while Nightwolf held onto a glowing green tomahawk that he had buried into a tree. Sareena, the woman with the white accents in her dark hair, had anchored a long, curved broadsword into the ground to stay still and prevent herself from sliding down.

However, the last man in the group - Taven - was still sliding down the slope with no signs of stopping. Kuai braced himself, thinking quickly as he saw that the man's arm was jutting out to the side. As Taven slipped past him, Kuai extended his own hand to grasp onto Taven's wrist, stopping his descent altogether.

Taven panted as he recovered, looking up to Kuai with wide eyes. "Thanks," he spoke to the cryomancer, his breath materializing in the air in the cold. "The cold and I don't mix together very well."

Kuai nodded, not fully understanding what the man meant by that last statement. He pulled the other man onto his feet before getting up himself, and they started to slowly walk up the steep mountainside, trudging through the snow on the ground. Taven held his hand up in the air, and a flame rested on his palm, flickering to life. "I'm a demigod," he said to Kuai as they met up with the others. "Argus, one of the Elder Gods who came before you, was my father."

"Do you know Rain, then?" Kuai questioned, looking at the warrior with sudden interest. Taven nodded his head slowly, a grimace forming on his face. "He and I... don't really get along. He seemed to be bitter that Argus was paying more attention to me and my brother, Daegon, who tried to kill Blaze for his own selfish reasons. I had to fight Rain and Daegon, and they, in turn, don't like me very much."

By now, Kuai and Taven had caught up to the others who were slowly making their way up to the cabin. "Well, you did a lot better than I was expecting," Kenshi praised. "I honestly was prepared to find myself in the Pacific Ocean."

"Ha," Kuai said dryly, scratching the underside of Nox's head as they walked forward. "Funny. What exactly did you tell them about me? I barely know anything about these people."

"He told them everything," Nightwolf took over Kenshi's place, walking beside Kuai as they neared the cabin. "He told them about your childhood and your life's journey that brought you to your full power. You've come a long way, Kuai Liang."

Kuai huffed in response, kicking the snow off of his feet as he followed Kenshi into the cabin. "I just feel like I'm going in circles," he said, taking in the sight of the building. It was two stories tall - on the first floor was a large living room with a fireplace and sofas as well as a small kitchen and dining table. There was a set of winding stairs that went upwards to the top floor that Kuai couldn't see yet.

"You're late," a new voice said accusingly from behind one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace.

Takeda, Kenshi's son, stood up as he turned to look at them, fixing Kuai with a serious look. "We need to talk," he said.

* * *

"If I were Kuai Liang and trying to run away, New York would be the place," Harumi said to the group.

"He _did_ mention being in a large city," Frost agreed, looking around as Bi-Han drove through the crowded streets of the city. "It's the perfect place to hide - there are so many people."

"Which is going to make it harder for us," Hanzo pointed out.

"I know a place," Bi-Han said, navigating his way through the streets. He reached into his pocket and procured a worn-out, tattered letter as he passed it to Hanzo. "Open it and read the address," he instructed.

Hanzo gingerly took the letter - making sure not to rip it - as he did as he was told. Bi-Han nodded slowly, looking at the numbers on the buildings until he came to a stop in front of a red brick building, parking it next to the curb. "Everyone out," he said, putting the car in park. "Let me do the talking."

They all followed the man into the building, coming to a stop when they saw a reception desk. An elderly woman sat behind the desk and looked up to the newcomers. "Hello," she greeted. "Are you looking to rent out a room?"

"No," Bi-Han said. "Can you tell Hydro that 'Bi-Han' is here?"

Tomas's head whipped to look at Bi-Han as the woman nodded, getting up from her seat and retreating behind the door labeled "Staff Only."

"Hydro?" Tomas questioned. "Hydro is alive?!"

Bi-Han sighed, nodding once as he refused to look at Tomas.

"Our teacher who I thought was _dead_ is _STILL ALIVE?_ And you didn't _tell me?!"_

Yikes, Hanzo didn't want to get involved in that argument.

Bi-Han turned to face Tomas. "It's not important right now, alright?" he snapped. "Just fucking drop it, already."

The door swung open, and Hanzo saw an elderly man wearing moon-shaped spectacles, kind of like Dumbledore. His silver hair didn't go down past his shoulders, and he held a picture frame in one of his hands that he set face-down on the reception desk. He took one look at Bi-Han before he marched forward, throwing a punch that connected with the man's jaw. The force sent Bi-Han reeling back as he clutched his jaw and cursed.

"Courtesy of Kuai Liang," the Lin Kuei teacher said coolly. "You remember, right? He's your brother, in case you've forgotten."

Hydro took the picture frame he had brought out with him, shoving it into Tomas's chest. "You've got guts, coming here," he snapped. "I'll give you that. But if you even think about showing your face here again, I'll gut you like a pig; got it?"

Tomas nodded, his eyes open wide like a child who was being shouted at by their parents. As Hydro walked away to give him room, the enenra took a look at the picture, gaping at the image. "You saw Kuai?" he asked, handing the image to Hanzo.

"He came here seven years ago," the old man spoke from behind the reception desk, sitting behind the computer. "He was looking for a place to rest. He's gone now - you won't find him." 

Hanzo stared at the image as Harumi peered over his shoulder. In the picture, Kuai was standing next to Hydro with his arm wrapped around his teacher's back. He was grinning happily, eyes sparkling as he stared from the image. He looked so different - his hair was a lighter shade of brown and he had gotten rid of his beard as well. If it weren't for the sight of those kind eyes, Hanzo didn't think that he would have recognized the cryomancer.

"What was Kuai doing for seven years?" Harumi asked. "Did he tell you what he had planned? Could you possibly point us in the direction to where he may have gone?"

Hydro studied her. "What's it to ya?"

"Kuai is in danger," Bi-Han said, rubbing his sore jaw. "We're trying to find him before someone else gets to him. Also, we'll be stopping the end of the world while doing so; another plus, don't you think?"

Hydro shook a finger at his former student. "Don't you take that tone with me, young man," he scolded before turning to Harumi. "He went to college."

"Wow," Frost breathed out from the corner of the room, her eyes twinkling. "He did it, then? Does he have a job? Is he living well?"

Hydro smiled warmly at her direction. "Oh, he did it, alright. He goes by 'Stephen Frost,' now. Just look him up - he's famous." He sounded happy, looking like a proud father. "He works at the Metro Hospital downtown, but since it's the weekend, he won't be there. You'll have better luck finding him at his house." He gave them an address, explaining what the area looked like.

"He may not like it when he sees ya," Hydro warned them. "He's a flighty kid; always has been. He hates the fight, so he resorts to flight."

"We'll try and be gentle," Harumi reassured the older man. "Thank you, sir."

"Bah," Hydro said, waving her off. "Call me Kai."

He had shooed them out of the apartment complex, giving Bi-Han and Tomas some last biting remarks on their way out. Hanzo sat in his seat at the front, pulling out his phone in an afterthought as he looked up Kuai's pseudonym.

Many results came up instantaneously - a lot more than he was expecting. He clicked on the third result: an article that described a surgical procedure that Kuai had done on an eight-year-old boy who had come into the Emergency Room in the aftermath of a car crash. Hanzo didn't understand the minor details behind the surgery, but he got the sense that Kuai had a lot of leverage and respect in the field of medicine.

"He was a neurosurgeon?" Tomas had pulled up an article on his own phone. "Holy shit, he has a Lamborghini."

"You know," Harumi said, cutting off Tomas. "Hydro was right. What are we going to do when he tries to run away?"

"If," Bi-Han snapped, his hands tightening their grip on the steering wheel as they drove out of the city. " _If_ he runs away."

"Let's not be stupid," Harumi retorted back. "He's not the Kuai Liang you know, anymore. He isn't reliant on your approval anymore, and he probably resents you for what you did. It's not a question of _if_ but _when._ So, let's be adults here and face the reality. We need a plan."

"I'll go to talk to him," Frost spoke up firmly. "I helped him pack his stuff before he left - he'll hopefully be more comfortable with me. You guys slowly come out from behind me. In case he tries to run around the back of the house, we should drop off Tomas before we pull up to the house. He'll wrap around the house and call us to let us know that he's in position."

Harumi nodded in agreement, pursing her lips with worry. "I do hope it won't have to come to that," she said quietly. 

After driving through the winding and steep roads that led to Kuai's house, Bi-Han had parked momentarily before turning onto the no outlet road that went further into the forest where Kuai's house would be. Tomas stepped out, disappearing into a cloud of smoke as he flew through the trees to get into place.

After waiting tensely for a few minutes, Bi-Han's phone rang. _"You can drive,"_ Tomas's voice said from the device, _"but you'll want to come quick. You have to see this."_

Bi-Han immediately put the car into drive, tearing up gravel as the tires sent the car forward, zooming down the single road. Slowly, the house came into view - a nice modern house that was well-concealed in the trees.

The scene would have been pretty, had it not been for the gruesome sight around the house. Corpses of Netherrealm demons littered the forest floor, some torn into pieces and others lying still on the ground, petrified and unmoving. Those who were lying still were odd - instead of their dark, blood-red tone, the demons' skin tone was dulled and gray. Hanzo was quick to get out, nudging the body of one fully-intact demon that looked like it may be alive. When his foot touched the demon, the body shattered into pieces. _Ice,_ Hanzo realized as the chill hit him. _It wasn't just encased in ice - its flesh was replaced by ice._

"Do you think Kuai did this?" Tomas asked, kneeling over the shattered remains of another demon.

"He wouldn't kill like this," Frost refuted. "This looks more like the handiwork of the dragons - one time, an assassin snuck into Kuai's room when he was sleeping. The dragons were there, and with their flames combined, they did this to the assassin. They were young, so it took their combined strength to do so. However, they're probably fully grown now, or at least close to being. With the number of bodies here, I'd say that it would only take one - with minimal effort - to do this."

"And the torn-up bodies?" Hanzo asked, stepping over one-half of a demon with the blood still running out of its body. 

"Nox," Harumi said, examining the tear. "You can see the bite marks here," she said, pointing to the body. "It's clear that there was a struggle of some sort, but where are they? Where are the dragons? Where's Nox? Where's Kuai?"

Hanzo looked towards the empty house, narrowing his eyes as he saw something hanging from the top corner above the garage door. "There," he said, pointing to the camera that overlooked the majority of the front of the house. "Can we see what it saw?"

Frost walked over to the camera and pulled out the SIM card, holding it gently between her thumb and index finger as she held it up for everyone else to see. "Does someone have a computer?"


	3. Kicking Down the Door to Hell...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takeda brings more bad news to the group as they come up with a back-up plan, should things go wrong. It will force them to travel to the Netherrealm to recover a lost artifact from the ruins of Shinnok's temple.
> 
> For Hanzo and his group, it seems that all hope is lost when they lose Kuai's trail at the house. However, a suspicious surge in energy in the northern region brings the group to seek Raiden's help.

“You have _no_ idea how hard it was for me to sneak away,” Takeda said spiritedly, throwing his hands into the air. “I had to drug Kung Jin; don't worry though, he’ll be fine.”

“Any updates on the situation?” Nightwolf pressed for information. “What is happening on your end?”

Takeda huffed, looking at his father. “It’s not good,” he admitted. “We’re all separated and spread out looking for him,” he said, pointing at Kuai with his thumb. “Raiden wants us to keep looking until three days before the blood moon rises - then, we'll be returning to the secret vault to guard it. But don't worry, Sub-Zero; they won't find you.”

Kuai remembered how the two telepaths had been the only ones to comfort him on that day - while it was not enough to overshadow the negative effects, the gesture was warming and comforting. However, despite his reluctance to return to his past life, Kuai couldn't help but feel as though it would be better if they joined up with the others.

“I don't understand,” Li Mei spoke up. “Why aren't we working together? Why is it so important to keep him away from the others?”

“Because,” Kenshi said in a grave tone, “You weren't there when they broke him down. I haven't seen them since that day, either. It's better to stay far away from them, Li Mei.”

Nightwolf nodded in agreement. “Besides, even if we were to work together, there would be no dynamic whatsoever. We’d continue to squabble and fight; we would be doomed from the start.”

Taven, who had been pacing the room in a state of duress, finally stilled as a thought came to him. “There is a weapon that is rumored to be able to slay the beast,” he said slowly, looking up towards the group. “It is an ancient sword forged from the fires of the Earth’s core where the serpent is rumored to sleep. If we could obtain it, we may have a second chance to make things right, should our prevention plan fail.”

“Where is this sword, then?” Kuai asked the warrior, thinking that there was _finally_ some hope in their troublesome situation.

“The Netherrealm,” Nightwolf replied on Taven’s behalf. “It sits in Shinnok’s treasury in his temple, along with many other dark artifacts.”

...

“Well, let’s go then!” Sareena said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she rolled her eyes. “It’s the Netherrealm; how the hell are we going to pass by thousands of demons without being seen whilst stealing a magic sword?”

“You’d certainly know how to,” Li Mei sniffed snottily, sneering at Sareena with disgust. “You look so pretty, but you're not fooling anyone, missy. No matter how hard you try to hide it, you can't change what you are: a vicious, disgusting Netherrealm demon.”

Kuai looked at the two women as Sareena growled at Li Mei. “I am _not_ going back there,” she snapped. “You have _no_ idea what I went through trying to get out. It was only recently after I helped Raiden that he gave me a human form. I _earned_ the right to exist - you've always had everything handed to you on a silver platter. Isn't that right, _princess?”_

“Hey!” Kuai’s voice broke through the tension as he placed himself between the two women. “Stop. This is getting us nowhere. Li Mei, that was out of line. Do you think that my past is clean? We’ve all had issues that we dealt with in the past. The only thing that matters now - should matter now - is that we are working together towards a common goal." He turned to face Nightwolf. "Now, if this weapon is located in the Netherrealm, then I think we should try to retrieve it. Taven is right; we should fall back on a Plan B in case things don't go the way we want them to.”

A beeping noise sounded from the room, and Takeda sighed, looking down at a watch on his wrist. “Damn. It’s morning in the area I'm supposed to be in; Cassie, Jacqui, and Kung Jin will be waking up soon. I've got to go. Here.”

He threw Kenshi a small Ziploc bag with what appeared to be military watches inside. “There are the teleportation devices you requested. They're the latest, most upgraded tech the Special Forces have. If you decide to go to the Netherrealm, you can use them. Just be aware; there is a fifteen-minute recharge time between teleportation, so if you find yourselves in trouble, try to stay alive long enough for it to recharge again.”

To Kuai, Takeda threw a large duffel bag, the weight causing Kuai to stumble a little. “Your gear and belongings,” Takeda explained. “I made a pit stop to your house in New York and packed all of your stuff into that handy bag of yours with the extra space. Your gear and weapons are also in there, too.”

Kuai opened the bag, seeing his old uniform at the top of the pile with the medical books, pictures, and other important items underneath it. A hysterical bubble of laughter threatened to break loose - wasn't that just symbolic? Here he was, abandoning his old life for this _shit_ again - he was choosing the uniform over his books. From the top of the uniform, Kuai held up the Dragon Medallion with trembling fingers. Still, the Medallion didn't freeze him as it had done with Frost, Hanzo, and Bi-Han in the past.

A terrifying thought then came to him: _When this is all over, can I even go back?_

Takeda had walked up to hug his father tightly, shutting his eyes. “Stay safe and don't do anything stupid,” Takeda said.

“You follow your own advice first,” Kenshi replied, a slight tremble in his voice, “and I'll think about it.”

Stepping away, Takeda activated his teleporter-watch and disappeared with a brilliant white flash, leaving the six adults in the log cabin.

Kenshi strapped Sento onto his back, turning to the group with a sharp grin. “Well, now that _that's_ all over and done with, who’s ready for a trip to hell?”

Kuai sighed in response, his shoulders already feeling heavy. _Whoop-dee-do,_ Kuai thought to himself, pushing all of his thoughts aside as he went to change his clothes. _Here we fucking go again..._

* * *

"Jesus," Tomas muttered under his breath for the third time as they re-watched the video in the car. "Those dragons are _big."_

"For fuck's sake!" Frost and Bi-Han snapped simultaneously as they turned on Tomas.

"Would you shut up already?" Hanzo grumbled. "Yes; we have eyes. Dragons grow. Direwolves grow. Accept that fact and _move on."_

"Hush," Harumi silenced them, staring intently as the video played on Bi-Han's laptop. "Who are those people? Why did they take Kuai, and more importantly, where?"

"Well, that's clearly Kenshi," Hanzo pointed to the screen, "but I don't know anyone else."

"Nightwolf!" Tomas exclaimed, startling the group. "That was his name; Nightwolf. He's the Native American person in the video. He helped at the tournament to stop Shao Kahn. That's funny; I totally forgot about him."

"I don't care who he is," Bi-Han growled frustratingly. "I just want to fucking know what they did to him!"

"Hey, guys," Frost said, looking at a screen in her lap.

"We'll find him, somehow," Hanzo said, trying to calm the oldest Lin Kuei in the vehicle. "Everyone is out looking for him."

"Guys~!" Frost insisted as Harumi looked over her shoulder, trying to see what it was that the female cryomancer was trying to tell the group.

"Hey!" Harumi barked, causing everyone to look at her. "Frost, honey, please continue."

The female cryomancer huffed in thanks before continuing to speak. "I grabbed this from the Special Forces before we left," she said, holding up a tablet to show the others. "It picks up on unexplainable, sudden surges in energy around the world. There was a minor energy spike in Virginia and a similar one in Alaska about a minute later," she explained, pointing to the areas on the map. "They're the exact same, actually. It's very similar to a teleportation energy signature - but the weird thing is, it behaves just like an Elder God's teleportation. I've studied Raiden's, Fujin's, and Liu Kang's, and they all have an effect that is similar to this."

"You think it could be Kuai?" Hanzo asked, looking at the screen.

Frost pursed her lips. "I'm not a hundred percent sure," she admitted. "I have no idea what Kotal's or Rain's teleportation energy looks like, and we have no idea where they could be. Besides, even if it _was_ Kuai, it would take a while for us to find him. The source of the energy in Alaska is all scattered up there - we would have to search the whole state to find him."

"It's better than nothing," Harumi said firmly, nodding to Frost in approval. "I think that we should go to Raiden first, though. Maybe he will be able to help narrow down the area."

Bi-Han nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea. Let's go to the Sky Temple and talk to him." He adjusted his watch as the others followed his lead.

With a flash of white light, the inhabitants disappeared from the car, leaving it abandoned.

* * *

As the bright light faded from Kuai's eyes, he immediately looked around the vicinity, taking in the area of the Netherrealm that he had landed in.

In all truth, he had thought that the others would force him to stay in the house - after all, he was at greater risk standing in the Netherrealm with all of the demons searching to get his blood. However, the others had insisted that he go with them. Nightwolf had explained that they would be able to keep a close eye on the cryomancer, and they would also have an extra set of hands to help with their task. 

Taven had pointed out that most of the demons had evacuated the Netherrealm in search of Kuai in the other realms, so he shouldn't have anything to worry about, anyway.

Still, there was a small part of Kuai that wished he could have stayed at home. Not because he had his misgivings about fighting, but because he knew how scalding it could get in the Netherrealm. The heat was starting to make him sweat, but with a quick and innovative thought, he created an aura around him that blocked out the heat whilst lowering the temperature around him.

"Ahhh~," Li-Mei said as she walked into the wide radius of Kuai's cooling effect. "That feels nice."

Kuai looked ahead of him to see the decrepit building that was standing menacingly over the group. They had managed to teleport more accurately with the devices - however, the drawback was that they couldn't make immediate teleportations. Nevertheless, they had teleported right in front of the temple steps. They would have tried to land _inside_ the temple, but there had been some interference when they tried to do that. Nightwolf wasn't too surprised, he had suggested that there must be a barrier of some sort protecting the temple.

The Netherrealm, which was normally covered with demons crawling and fighting and screaming, was eerily silent. It grated on Kuai's nerves, making the invisible hairs on his arms stand up straight as he slowly followed Taven up the steps. When they got to the doors, Kuai frowned - the doors were sealed shut and locked, proven when Taven pulled on the door handle. 

"Now what?" Li Mei snapped, crossing her arms.

Sareena pointed to a large top window with stained glass. "Up there," she said. Kuai's mind was already mapping a way to climb up the wall, and with a running start, he grabbed ahold of a protruding part of the building, swinging his way up to the window where he hung on with one hand. He pulled himself up, opening the window as he looked down at the group.

Grinning at the invitation, Sareena was quick to copy his moves, and before long, the demoness was crouching next to Kuai on the windowsill. They looked back down to the others, but Kenshi shook his head. 

"Go," he said, "We'll be here to stand guard. If you hear a whistle, we need to get out of here."

Nodding down at the blind swordsman, Kuai turned to the window to try and open it. When it failed to budge, he shared a suffering look with Sareena before he punched through the glass, his gloves protecting his hand from the glass shards. He used his elbow to make the entrance safer to enter, and slipped in, landing and then balancing on a flagpole below the window. With a sideways somersault, he landed on the floor of the temple with a small sound of impact that echoed through the abandoned halls.

Sareena was at his side, looking around the temple. "Where is the treasury?" she said in a lowered voice.

"Kenshi said that it would be next to the throne room," Kuai whispered in response, their voices echoing back to them. "That hallway goes downstairs - probably towards the dungeons. The throne room should be the other way."

Sareena nodded as she moved down the indicated hallway that Kuai had pointed out, and he caught up to her, the two slowly walking side-by-side. After walking through the temple for a while, Sareena spoke up.

"You didn't seem upset or scared by the fact that I'm a demon." Kuai turned to look at her as she spoke, a troubled look on her face.

"No," Kuai answered truthfully. "A lot of my friends were undead for a while - revenants. Your past doesn't shape who you are; it's your actions that make the difference."

Sareena studied Kuai thoughtfully. "I knew your older brother," she finally said.

Kuai almost froze in his tracks. "You did?"

She hummed in response. "He was trying to kill Shinnok, who was my master. I fought to protect Shinnok from him, but he defeated me. He spared my life, and I returned the favor when Shinnok tried to get me to kill him afterward. He promised me that he would try to save me from my fate, but I never saw him again." Sareena spoke with a faraway look in her eyes, but a bitter smile overtook her face.

"You're nothing like him," she continued. "You're a lot more soft-spoken and think more with your heart than your head. You're always hesitant but safe; he was a lot more confident yet brash. You even _move_ differently - he strode forward with purpose, but you... you gingerly step forward. It's like you're always afraid to do the wrong thing." The demoness looked at the Lin Kuei. "So, who was it? Your father? Your mother? Who depleted all of your self-confidence?"

"... Too many people to count," Kuai said quietly as they came to a pair of large double doors. "My ex-friends, recently. The Grandmaster and his son, Sektor. My... My brother."

Sareena drew in a sharp breath through her mouth. "I didn't realize -"

"It's fine," Kuai replied, shaking his head. "As I said, it's all in the past. There's no point to reminisce about it at this point." With that, he pushed the doors open; they creaked slowly open, revealing a large expansive room.

At the very back of the room in the center was a stone chair with various dark gems set into the crown of the throne. There were long tables that were set into rows throughout the room, and Kuai and Sareena carefully stepped around them, making their way to the throne. Sareena sneered when they stood in front of the throne, clenching her fists. "Ding dong, the king is dead," she spat.

Kuai snorted, earning a look of surprise from Sareena. "I would have replaced 'king' with 'bitch,' but that also works," he said, walking past her to another room set to the right of the throne. She was quick to catch up to him, opening the door for him as she fixed a friendly smile on him, starting to warm up to the cryomancer, who entered the room first.

He scanned the room, taking in the shining gold pieces and gemstones scattered on the floor and the display cases resting against the walls. Sareena placed a hand on his arm as a warning. "Be careful. Try to not touch anything in the cases," she said. "I don't know what capabilities your Medallion has in protecting you from curses, but there are a lot of nasty ones affecting these artifacts."

Kuai nodded in response, slowly following Sareena as she took the lead, walking to the back of the room. Kuai turned to look at the artifacts in the glass display cases, frowning as he was quick to turn away. They seemed to be ordinary, everyday items: a hairpin, a goblet, and a ring were some of the items on display, but they all gave off the same dark aura that left Kuai eager to leave. Finally, Sareena came to a stop in front of the last display case in the back of the room. 

"Where's the rest of it?" Kuai asked, panic set into his voice. 

"I don't know," Sareena breathed out anxiously. "Taven and Nightwolf didn't say anything about this."

In the glass case, resting on a plush red pillow, was the sword. However, it was incomplete - it only had the hilt and part of the blade, which was an eerily transparent color that gleamed like diamonds. The hilt was designed to be held with one hand; the crossguard was made of silver shiny metal and the grip was made nearly entirely of sapphires. The pommel of the sword, instead of being made of sapphires as well, was a thickened circle made of the same material that the sword's blade was made of - that transparent diamond-looking material. However, the blade was shattered at the bottom where the end of the blade should have been, missing its point.

Kuai then saw a piece of paper beside the sword - he shattered the glass to pick it up, reading the inscription. Slowly, he shut his eyes, crushing the paper in his hand with frustration as he handed it over to Sareena, who had to unravel it as she read the words.

Her eyes widened as the meaning of the words settled in. "Oh, _shit."_

Before either one of them could say anything, a piercing whistle shattered the air. Kuai quickly grabbed the hilt of the sword, turning to Sareena who pocketed the paper. 

"Let's go," Kuai said.

* * *

When Hanzo felt the ground under his feet materialize, he opened his eyes to take in the sight of the Sky Temple. It was pouring heavily from the sky, obstructing his vision as the rain caught on his lashes, but he wasn't surprised at all with the weather. It was considered _odd_ if it _wasn't_ raining at the Sky Temple.

He followed after Bi-Han and Harumi, who had already rushed to cover and were standing at the door. Frost and Tomas joined them, and Harumi knocked on the door, standing back a little bit while she waited for a reply.

The door swung open, revealing a confused Fujin. "What are you doing here? Has something happened?"

"We need to talk to Raiden," Frost spoke up, holding up the tablet that she had protected from the rain under her jacket. "It's about Kuai Liang."

With that, Fujin nodded as he opened the door wider, letting the group of five enter the temple. Hanzo wiped the water off of his face as the others tried to dry themselves while Fujin left, seeking for Raiden to bring him to the group.

With a crack of thunder, Raiden materialized in front of the group, his luminescent eyes full of concern. "What happened? Did you find him?"

Frost explained the situation, showing the tablet to the Thunder God with the image of the energy surges saved to the device. As she explained the predicament of searching the entirety of Alaska, Raiden nodded slowly, looking off to the distance as his eyes drifted off in thought.

"It was smart for Kuai Liang to travel to Alaska," he mused. "It is one of the few places in the world where magic is dulled and energy signatures are difficult to read. However, I believe I can help you with narrowing the area. There is a tool stored in Heaven's library that we may be able to use - it may show us the general area where Kuai Liang may be residing."

He turned to study the group, nodding slowly. "I will take you up with me to Heaven," he announced. "You will be able to see the general area that the device identifies, and can draw the area on your tablet for reference."

Raising his hand in the air, a bright neon light engulfed them all as they disappeared from the Sky Temple.

* * *

Kuai and Sareena took off through the halls of Shinnok's temple, not bothering to quiet their footsteps as they ran to the front doors.

The cryomancer kicked down the doors to the temple, now able to open them from the inside. When they ran down the steps to reunite with the others, Kuai was distressed to see that a small group of demons were on the others, attacking them viciously.

Kuai threw an ice ball - with the hand not clutching the sword - at a demon that had thrown Li Mei to the ground, freezing it in place. Moving forward to help Taven - who was hurling balls of fire left and right - the cryomancer formed an ice sword, thankful for his decision seven years earlier to continue his training. Despite his attempts to leave his old life behind, there was always that pressing feeling in the back of his mind that encouraged Kuai to keep training with his powers and stances. Thus, the creation of the sword was seamless and barely required any thought, and he gripped it in his empty hand as he swung it into the middle of the demon's chest, cutting it neatly in half.

Taven panted with relief, nodding thankfully in Kuai's direction. However, the cryomancer was focused on helping Li Mei as Sareena unhooked her kamas, helping Nightwolf and Kenshi. Before long, the ground was scattered with the corpses of the dead Netherrealm demons, the group having suffered minimal, superficial wounds.

Off in the distance, Kuai heard more screeching and the harsh cries of the demons. Quickly, the group began to take advantage of their time advantage, entering the coordinates into their watches as they left the Netherrealm before additional demons could start attacking them.

In seconds, Kuai found himself back in the main room of Kenshi's log cabin in Alaska, the fire crackling comfortingly in the fireplace. Sighing, Kuai walked over to the sofas in the living room, taking a seat in an armchair as he placed the broken sword in his lap.

Kenshi frowned as he finally picked up on the irregular shape of the sword. "That doesn't feel right."

Sareena sighed, pulling out the piece of paper that they had found next to the sword as she read the words aloud.

_"The sword was separated into two pieces by the Elder Gods, who feared its power. They knew that one of their successors would claim the weapon in the future; however, to ensure it would never be used for evil intent, the Elder Gods broke the sword into two pieces. They cast one half of the sword to the realms but kept the blade stored away in Heaven's secret vaults."_

With that, she crumpled up the paper into a ball, throwing it into the fire angrily.

"Well," Nightwolf spoke up after a long period of silence, "Getting the other half from Heaven _should_ be easier than the Netherrealm..."

Kuai thumped his head against the armchair, groaning in frustration.


	4. ...Knocking Politely On the Gates of Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuai and Hanzo, along with their respective groups, venture to Heaven for their respective purposes.
> 
> They're bound to run into each other eventually...

The view was _breathtaking._

Hanzo looked around him as he took in the beautiful sight of Heaven's kingdom. They were in a place above the clouds, out of reach to the humans living their lives below. They had landed in the kingdom of Heaven on a levitating platform with six chairs all in a circle - all reflecting the gods' respective powers. Raiden's throne was crackling with white zig-zag lines of lightning that coursed through the chair, whilst Fujin's had tempests of wind swirling around his own throne.

Hanzo was also able to identify Liu Kang's immediately, the chair crackling with white, purified flames. Kotal's throne was engulfed by a source of warming light somewhere above his chair, illuminating the stone with engraved Aztec symbols engraved into the stone. Rain's had water falling out of cracks in the stone of his throne, the cascading water reminding Hanzo of waterfalls.

However, the last chair had not undergone any modifications of any sort. It was just a dark grey seat with dust collecting on it - not illuminated in any way like the others were. Raiden was also looking at the last throne with a sad look in his eyes.

"He refused to sit in it," Raiden said aloud, speaking more to himself than to the group. "He only came up once - at that point, he was still in his stubborn state of denial and wanted nothing to do with being an Elder God." He let out an amused huff. "It truly is a twist of irony that he's the last Elder God whose blood is needed, isn't it?"

Hanzo turned away from the barren throne, the sight making his chest tight as he looked toward the rest of the kingdom. There wasn't much to Heaven - other than the levitating platform they were on right now with the thrones, there was a straight sky bridge that split off into three separate paths. The middle path led to a temple that was very similar in structure to the Sky Temple in Earthrealm. The path to the left led to what appeared to be a beautiful garden, while the path to the right went to a small circular building with walls made of metal.

Raiden walked down the middle path, explaining each of the structures. "That is the Enchanted Garden," he said, pointing over to the left. "The Garden is home to many herbs and materials that are needed for miracle cures or magical purposes. It is also the main source of the Jinsei - the Jinsei Chamber in the Sky Temple obtains the excess energy from the Garden and stores it in the Chamber."

"Right now, we are walking to the Library of Heaven," Raiden continued as he led them to the temple. "This is where all of the historical records are kept, along with other artifacts and articles of knowledge. It is there that I will use the Scope - a tool meant to locate an individual based on their energy signature. Unfortunately, while it won't provide an accurate reading in Alaska, it will hopefully narrow your field of search."

"What's that over there?" Tomas asked curiously, pointing to the metal right building.

Raiden nodded slowly. "That is the Vault of Heaven. It was there that the Elder Gods kept Shinnok's amulet. Since then, Liu Kang and I have worked to update its defenses. Only an Elder God and people who have been given permission by an Elder God can enter the Vault. It is home to the most dangerous and precious artifacts and items - some of the items are unknown to even me. However, we are not here to access the Garden or the Vault; we only need to enter the Library, which you are all permitted to enter with an Elder God's permission." The Raiden opened the door to the Library, letting the others enter first before he started to follow after them.

The Thunder God stilled as he was about to close the door, pausing in his steps as he looked behind him. He had felt a disturbance in the air, as though someone had just arrived at Heaven. Believing it to be Fujin, he eased off his apprehension, turning to join the others and help them with their quest in search of the cryomancer.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that exact moment, Kuai had managed to teleport himself and his own group to the Throne Room of Heaven, managing to land accurately since he had visited before.

Nightwolf patted the cryomancer on his back in congratulations. "You're getting better," he praised, nodding forwards to the three splitting paths. "Where is the Vault?"

Kuai pointed to the right at the metal building that Raiden had shown Hanzo's group earlier. "It's there," he said to the others. "If the note was right, then the other half of the sword should be in there." The cryomancer still held onto the other half of the sword in his left hand as he walked forward, motioning for the others to follow him as he ran down the bridge to the Vault.

As they stopped in front of the Vault's black doors, Taven turned back to the Thrones. "Have you not claimed your throne?" he asked Kuai as the Elder God was muttering under his breath to give the others access to enter the Vault.

"Kuai Liang doesn't like being in the spotlight," Kenshi smirked. "I wasn't here to see it, but from what I've heard, he refused to sit in it. Isn't that right, Kuai Liang?"

After he had finished blessing the others, Kuai turned to shoot Kenshi a dirty look. "It took me a year and a half to finally sit on the Lin Kuei throne in the main room; what were you expecting? I didn't want to become an Elder God. But, life fucking hates my guts, so I guess I'll just continue to eat shit, then."

Kenshi's grin only widened.

Huffing, Kuai turned around to push the doors open. The heavy doors opened slowly, letting the light from the outside filter in. Slowly, Kuai led the group into the Vault, scanning the single circular room in the building. Like in Shinnok's treasury in the Netherrealm, there were display cases against the walls with various artifacts in each case. No one needed to be told to not touch any of the artifacts as they separated, walking around the room to find the other half of the sword. 

Kuai came to a stop before a display case toward the back of the room, and he called out to the others as they made their way to the case. Kuai unlocked the display case, gently lifting up the lid as he stared at the blade. The blade was the exact same as the snapped small part of the blade left attached to the hilt that Kuai held in his left hand. The piece in the case had that clear diamond-esque look to it, seeming almost transparent as it sparkled under the sunlight.

Lying next to it was a scabbard for the full sword, made of a lightweight metal that was silver - the same silver color as the crossguard of the sword. Engraved into the silver scabbard were weaving and intertangled glowing sky blue lines, wrapping around the scabbard in random places. There was also a single black leather strap attached to the scabbard for it to be worn around the back at an angle. Slowly and carefully, Kuai lifted up the blade, leaving the scabbard alone for now.

"How are we going to put this back together?" Li Mei asked curiously, looking between the faces of the others. "This is an ancient, unknown metal. No one knows how to fix it."

As she spoke, Kuai yelped suddenly, dropping the blade as it began to glow a blue color. He had also dropped the hilt of the sword they had gotten from the Netherrealm, and a blinding light filled the room. As the light died out, they all looked down to the ground where the pieces had been.

In the place of the two separated pieces was now a complete sword; the pieces had magically fused together, the break line no longer visible. It looked good as new, the sapphire sleek grip sparkling under the silver crossguard. The diamond blade was now glowing a bright, turquoise color, the blue color glowing strongest down the middle of the blade. However, on the ground, it started to fade, dulling back to its usual diamond appearance. 

"What the hell?" Kenshi muttered under his breath. "It was giving off a crazy energy, but it's gone now."

Sareena frowned, going over to the fallen blade as she lifted it up by the grip, waving it in the air with one hand. The sword was only designed to be held in one hand, anyway, and Kuai noted that it was an arming sword - the same sword that Kuai had trained with during his childhood. The double-edged blade was a few inches shorter than three feet, not including the pommel and grip. Sareena grabbed the scabbard lying in the display case, temporarily sheathing the sword. 

"What is that?" Nightwolf asked, holding his hand out for the sword. Sareena wordlessly handed it over as Nightwolf turned the blade over in his hands, reading a small engraved script in the silver scabbard. He held it up so that the others could read it.

_"This blade is named Frostbite, and it belongs to the One who commands the Winters."_

Slowly, heads started turning to Kuai.

"No," the cryomancer said immediately, taking a step back. "Hell no! You keep that _fucking_ thing away from me," he said, pointing at the blade.

"It fixed itself when you picked it up," Taven observed. "And you don't have your godly weapon, yet. Raiden has his staff, Fujin has his longsword, Liu Kang has his chain sticks, Kotal has his macuahuitl, and Rain has his katar weapons," he listed off. "They've all received their weapons through some personal connection. For most of them, it was the first weapon they were trained with."

"It doesn't matter," Nightwolf dismissed, taking the blade as he offered the grip for Kuai to take. "Take it and unsheathe the blade."

Kuai hesitated before he finally relented under the looks the others were throwing him, sighing as he pulled the sword out from its scabbard - it made a nice ringing sound as it rubbed against the metal of the scabbard.

The cryomancer and those with him stared at the blade, which was glowing turquoise blue again with even more intensity, replacing the diamond-like steel. It engulfed the entire blade of the sword, and Kuai noted that the pommel circular piece at the end of the sword - made of the same material - was now also glowing the same blue color.

Nightwolf nodded satisfyingly. "It is yours," he told Kuai firmly, silencing his protests by continuing to speak. "It is clear that it was only meant to be wielded by you; just as the gods' weapons are only meant to be held by them."

From behind him, Sareena nodded once toward Kuai, her eyes showing clearly that there was no room for any argument. 

Kuai silently fumed, snatching the scabbard from Nightwolf's outstretched hand as he sheathed the sword safely, throwing the strap over his head so that the hilt was resting behind Kuai's head to the right side of this right ear - this would make it easy for him to grab the sword from the scabbard so that he could hold it in his right hand.

"Let's get out of here," the cryomancer grumbled, "before I'm tempted to throw myself off the edge of this place."

* * *

As Kuai and his team were searching for the other half of the sword in the Vault, Hanzo was with his own team as they waited for Raiden to return with the device.

Hanzo walked to stand next to Bi-Han, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "How are you doing?" 

Bi-Han shook his head slowly. "I... I'm not sure," he admitted. "I don't know what's going to happen when we see him. He has every right to turn me away, you know?" He huffed, smiling bitterly. "I'm scared that he's going to get hurt, and that it'll be my own damn fault; I turned him away, you know?"

Hanzo lowered his head. "We all did," he said slowly. "The thing that matters is that we're trying to get him back, now. And when we do, you'll never let him go again."

" _If_ he wants to stay," Bi-Han said softly so that Tomas couldn't hear. "If he wants to leave, I'll have to let him go."

At that moment, Raiden finally returned with a small package held securely in his hands. He placed it down gently on the giant table in the Library, lifting the lid off of the metal rectangular box as he set the lid down to the side carefully. Gingerly, the Thunder God lifted up a golden instrument; to Hanzo's confusion, it appeared to be a small pocket telescope. Raiden extended the eyeglass, pulling it out to its full length.

He extended the device, holding it out in his hand for the others to see. "By looking through this eyeglass, a map will appear at the other end of the scope, hopefully narrowing your search in Alaska." He handed Harumi the scope.

She took it gingerly, lifting it slowly to her eye as she peered into the eyeglass. For a few minutes, nothing changed. Hanzo was starting to fidget in place impatiently, but he stayed silent. Then, the view started to change for Harumi, and she gasped as she saw what Raiden had said she would see.

"He's somewhere in the southern part of the Aleutian Mountain Range," she exhaled, lowering the scope as she looked to the others. "He's hiding in the mountains."

"Nice!" Tomas exclaimed happily, getting onto his feet from where he had been sitting in an armchair. "Let's go before he can leave to go somewhere else, then!" The others started to gather their things as Raiden placed the eyeglass back into the box, shutting the lid securely.

"... Thank you," Bi-Han choked out. Hanzo knew how difficult it was for the Lin Kuei - he didn't say the words often. "I'll find Kuai Liang and bring him back without harm."

"See that you do," Raiden said firmly but not unkindly. He gestured with his arm to point toward the door and watched as the group started to walk toward the exit. However, as Raiden was preparing to take the box back to its place on the shelves, he paused, remembering that unsettling feeling he had before entering the Library. Reconsidering his decision, Raiden turned away from the box and followed after the others, catching up to the group as they opened the door and stepped out onto the top steps.

However, Raiden noted that they were staring at something off in the distance. No one moved a muscle. Going forward to try and see what had caught their attention, Raiden strode forward with purpose until he came to a screeching halt as he saw what had caused them to stand still.

_Is that...?_

* * *

Back in the Vault, Kenshi was leading the group out, stopping momentarily as Kuai shut the doors to the Vault. None of them wanted a repeat of the stealing of Shinnok's amulet - Kuai double-checked to ensure that the doors were locked securely before turning to face the others.

He was intending to give them a nod and say something along the lines of, "Let's get the hell out of here," when something in the background caught his eye. Squinting, Kuai reacted with alarm as he saw people standing on the top steps of the Library of Heaven. It wasn't very close; despite the distance, he could clearly make out the colors that the people were wearing. 

Additionally, they were looking right at him.

While Kuai was having his small panic attack, Taven had turned around as the others followed his gesture, looking to see Hanzo's group staring back at them.

The groups stared awkwardly at each other for a long time.

Then, Kenshi seized Kuai's arm with the speed of a viper striking as he bolted, dragging the cryomancer with him to the levitating platform with the Thrones. The others were quick to follow, darting across the sky bridge after them.

In the distance, Kuai could hear a loud curse; he spared a look back as Kenshi was pulling him along, seeing the others at the Library starting to give chase. It was a clusterfuck; Kuai could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins as they finally reached the Thrones.

Luckily, the group had entered the coordinates of the Alaskan cabin pre-emptively, so when they reached the Thrones, Kenshi had slapped the button on Kuai's wrist, ensuring that the cryomancer left first before any of them. They all disappeared from view just as Hanzo and the others caught up with them.

"Goddamnit!" Frost panted, bending over to place her hands on her knees as she panted. "He was right there!"

"Where did he go, Raiden?" Hanzo asked, looking to the Thunder God who was only now walking up to them. He had a stunned look on his face, looking at the spot where Kuai and the others had disappeared.

"Are you going to answer?" Bi-Han snapped irritably.

"That's..." Raiden was stuttering in shock - something that concerned Hanzo - as he blinked rapidly. "That's... the sword. He had... He had the sword. How does he have the sword?"

"What fucking sword?!" Bi-Han roared.

The volume of the shout caused Raiden to snap out of his state of shock, and he looked to Bi-Han apologetically. "My apologies. It's just that he had the sword from the Vault. It's supposed to be able to cut through anything, including enchantments and other protective spells or barriers. However, the blade that was in the Vault was only one-half of the complete sword. It appears as though Kuai Liang and his friends obtained the other piece. How did they fuse it back together, though? It makes no sense - it would have taken a forge to repair it..."

He paused, eyes widening slightly. "Oh," he said dumbly. "Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense, now."

"I swear to the fucking Netherrealm," Bi-Han growled, "if you don't start talking right _now_..."

"Yes, yes," Raiden snapped, holding up a hand to silence Bi-Han. "It's just ingenious, is all. Also, very astonishing, but not very. How did I not see it? Kuai must have realized that this blade would be able to pierce through the serpent's hide - he was likely looking for a way to kill the creature and must have thought of the sword. However, I couldn't fathom how he was able to repair the blade until I realized something; it mended in a similar way that my weapon does when it is broken. The sword must belong to him. There was also an inscription in the scabbard that was in the Vault; _the sword belongs to the One who commands the Winters._ I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier; how foolish of me!"

"How is this helping us?" Tomas groaned. "Kuai's gone, and knowing how paranoid and shifty he is, he's already packing his bags to leave Alaska!"

"Not necessarily," Harumi interjected. "The only thing that he saw was that we were at the Library; he didn't know that we were there to try to locate him. He still may be in Alaska."

Hanzo nodded slowly. "She's right. Besides, while Kuai is shifty, he's also smart. He knows that it is hard for most beings to use magic in Alaska - thus, he'll be more likely to hide in the mountains until the blood moon; a month from now."

Tomas sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. "Great. More fucking ice - as if I don't get enough of that every day."

* * *

Kuai panted as he fell onto his knees on the wood floor of the cabin; that had been _too_ close.

Looking up, he sighed in relief as his friends started to pop up one-by-one. Before long, they were all back to the safety of the cabin - every one of them was panting or breathing heavily from the exertion of running.

Slowly, the events of the past few days caught up to Kuai. This, coupled with what had just happened, caused him to snort. Immediately, a hand flew to cover his mouth as he snorted a couple more times before letting the laughter run loose, the sound filling the air.

The rich laughter coming from the cryomancer caused Kenshi to grin slowly as he chuckled himself. This prompted a giggle from Li Mei as she looked down to see Kuai rolling onto his back, clutching his stomach as he struggled to breathe through bouts of laughter. Even Sareena and Taven were laughing lightly with the group as Nightwolf allowed a rare smile to appear on his face. 

"Hooo~ly shit," Kuai gasped as he attempted to pull himself to a sitting position. "That was just fucking _ridiculous._ We were running, they were running - I thought we were done!" He fell back to the ground, laughing again.

"I've never run that fucking fast in my life," he wheezed, "and I spend every fucking day of my life running from my own _problems!!!"_ He howled at this, raising a hand to wipe tears from his eyes.

Immediately, Kenshi's smile disappeared as he frowned at Kuai, quickly walking over to him as he kneeled onto the floor to make eye contact with the cryomancer. Kuai's laughter started to die out as he took in Kenshi's serious face.

"It's not funny," the blind swordsman said seriously, "to joke about your problems. I know that the others were lenient and thought you were just playing around, but I know better. I _know_ you, Kuai Liang. I know that you hide your pain behind your self-depreciation jokes and smiles. From now on, I want you to be honest with yourself. I want you to admit that you're traumatized, that you're hurting, and that you accept that."

Kuai started to glare up at Kenshi, snarling slightly. "What the fuck do you know about me? You don't know _shit._ If you did, you'd tell me about my parents. If you really knew me, you'd know that I'm fucking sick of running. I'm fucking _tired_ of it all, _alright?!_ I just want to fucking go home and sleep in my fucking bed. I want to go back in time to where things were simpler. But you and I both know that we can't have everything we want in life, right? That's why I fucking make these goddamn jokes and laugh at myself - because I CAN'T laugh about anything else!!!"

Kenshi was silent; he had moved away from Kuai as he ranted, studying the man in a new light.

In the distance, there was a roar from one of the dragons.

"Now," Kuai began, standing up onto his feet, "if there's nothing else you have to share with me that will further ruin my day, I'm going to go to sleep and pretend like this is a fucking nightmare. I'm stuck here, doing this shit again, with people who won't let me laugh at myself. So, if you will excuse me - unless I'm prohibited from doing that, too?"

When all he got was silence, Kuai turned on his heels to storm up the stairs, Frostbite still strapped to his back.


	5. Sword-Fighting and Dragon Flying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuai Liang gets lessons to sharpen his skills, while Hanzo arrives in Alaska in search of the cryomancer.

Kuai woke up from a dreamless sleep for once, sitting up blearily in the guest bedroom as he stretched lazily.

One of the best things about being an Elder God was that he had gotten _younger -_ he was about 27 to 30 - which enabled him to crawl out of bed without hearing his joints pop. Sighing contently, Kuai made his way to the bathroom to wash and clean up his appearance.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, wearing his gear and feeling a lot more energetic, Kuai startled at the sight of one of the frost dragons pressing their snout against the window - it was smushed up against the glass surface as the dragon rumbled sadly.

Grinning goofily, Kuai opened up the window to stick his hand out. By now, he could recognize the dragons by their appearances - now that they were fully grown, each dragon had its own features and characteristics. Snow was pure white in color while her brothers were a pale blue. Tundra was a little bit smaller than his older brother, Storm, but the undersides of his wings were white in color whilst Storm's was a light grey. 

It was Snow who was desperate to get a look at Kuai. She rumbled happily as Kuai started to pet her snout, closing her giant eyes as she started to purr, the noise sending the snow on the mountain falling down the slope. 

Kuai chuckled, smiling slightly up at her. "What do you think?" he asked her. "Should I try to run from this? Or do I give in, knowing that I may never have the courage to leave again?"

Snow only snorted, engulfing Kuai in a cloud of cold air - unlike other dragons, frost dragons ran cold instead of hot. Kuai wasn't bothered by the chill; he only sighed, "I don't think I can go back, at this point. I'm way too deep in this, aren't I? I gave up my life when I left New York - I don't think I'll ever get another moment of peace, now."

The dragon tilted her head. "Maybe this was meant to happen," Kuai mused aloud. "Maybe this is Fate's way of saying that I was always a killer and that I can't be anyone else." In response, Snow butted her head slightly against Kuai's side. 

"Yeah, I know," Kuai laughed. "I'm being an idiot - longing for something that I could never have. See, after thinking everything over last night, I realized something. In my life as the Lin Kuei Grandmaster, I was stuck on all the negatives and could never focus on the positives. In hindsight, that life wasn't _all_ bad. The more I think about it, the more I miss it; I never thought I'd ever say that."

He huffed, looking down at his feet. "I guess I better start giving this all I've got. If I can't go back; well, that sucks. But I've got friends, and maybe things will get better over time."

Snow leaned back, stretching her wings widely as she let loose a jet of blue fire to the sky before taking off to join her brothers in the sky.

Smiling, Kuai shut the window and locked it, shuffling to the closet as he drew the door open. Leaning against the back of the wall was Frostbite, shadowed behind the long coats. Slowly, Kuai reached out a hand to grasp the hilt. He pulled it out of the closet, unsheathing the blade as he held it up to closely examine the sword.

Its blue glow was entrancing and mesmerizing - at one angle, it seemed to be navy blue, but at another, it appeared a bright icy blue. Kuai twirled the blade in his right hand, feeling for and testing the weight of the weapon. It felt just right - as though it had been made specifically for him. The blade was not too heavy to thrust forward, but not too light so that it would be difficult to control. 

Taking a deep breath, Kuai sheathed the sword again as he strapped it to his back. He went to the bedroom door, stepping outside. From the top of the stairs, he could hear people conversing lightly downstairs, and the cryomancer descended.

He nodded in greeting to Sareena who was leaning against the wall with two apples in her hands. Looking up, she nodded back, throwing him an apple that Kuai caught with his left hand. "You left Kenshi with a lot to think about last night," she told him.

Kuai winced, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I let my anger get the better of me," he acknowledged. "He wasn't _fully_ wrong, in any case. A part of the problem is that I _am_ pessimistic. But the real reason is to be able to laugh. Being able to laugh at yourself is a good thing."

Sareena smiled, bowing her head slightly in a nod. "We all need a good laugh every now and then. So, have you made up your mind, then? Are you going to leave, or are you staying?"

"I'm staying," Kuai said firmly, nodding his head with determination. "I was so used to being in the battle that I forgot that I had a life that existed out of it. I went through a long rough patch, but this is who I am. I may be a killer, but I'm doing it for all the right reasons. Right now, I'm doing it to save the world from its own destruction. Later, I'll find another reason to continue."

"Well done," Nightwolf praised, slowly approaching the two from the side. He looked behind Kuai's right ear to see the pommel of the arming sword sticking out behind him. "Do you know how to use that?" he asked, nodding with his chin toward the sword.

"Some," Kuai said hesitantly. "I may need a refresher course, though. I was wondering if Kenshi could help me with that. Do you know where he is, right now?"

"Mrph bru shur," Taven spoke inaudibly from the dining table with his food full of scrambled eggs.

"I think what Taven is trying to say," Li Mei spoke with wry amusement, "is that Kenshi is outside and that you should probably talk to him about last night."

Taven nodded rapidly, taking a drink of water.

Kuai nodded, smiling gratefully as he left the cabin, stepping outside into the snow. As he stepped out, Nox ran up to him, skidding across the ground as she came to a stop. However, her momentum lifted up a wave of snow that was about to encase Kuai before it halted in its trajectory, suspended midair. Turning around, Kuai saw Kenshi holding out his hand in concentration. After a brief moment, the snow simply fell to the ground.

"Good morning, Kenshi," Kuai greeted cordially as he reached up a hand to pet Nox's nose.

"Hello, Kuai," the blind swordsman replied in kind. "I have an apology to make about last night. I clearly stepped out of line and misjudged your character - I am sorry."

"You weren't completely incorrect in your evaluation about me," Kuai said in reply. "You were right; I am traumatized and pessimistic. However, the self-depreciation jokes I make give me a chance to laugh at myself, which I greatly value because I find it hard to laugh about anything these days."

Kenshi tilted his head curiously. "Your mood is a lot better," he noted. "You're feeling a lot happier. What happened?"

Kuai shrugged. "I only took a moment to think about everything. I remembered my life as the Lin Kuei Grandmaster and remembered all of the good memories. I was so caught up in all the negative things I saw that I forgot to enjoy the good moments. After this is all over, if we succeed, I'm returning to the Lin Kuei. I don't know right now if I want to go back to being Grandmaster just yet, but I think I'll have a better idea by the time this is finished."

"I'm glad that you've found your peace, friend," Kenshi said, smiling gently. "I'm looking forward to being able to have you back home. Now, I think that you came out here with the intent to practice?" he asked, tilting his head toward Frostbite that was on Kuai's back.

The cryomancer nodded, removing the sword with the scabbard from his back. "I... It's been a while," he said simply.

Kenshi motioned with his head to a place in the ground where the snow was low and partially swept away by the winds. "Let us practice with the scabbard on your sword," the blind swordsman spoke as he faced Kuai, planting his feet into the ground. "Because yours is made of metal, it should hold up against Sento. I will be using Sento at its full capabilities, but because I am more disciplined, you need not worry about sustaining injuries."

"Alright," Kuai agreed, getting into the stance that he had been taught in his early days of training as a child. The additional weight of the scabbard felt unusual, but he shook it off, gripping it tightly in his right hand. At once, Kenshi rushed at Kuai, raising Sento above his hand as he brought it down in a downwards swipe. Kuai reacted instantaneously, lifting up Frostbite horizontally to catch Sento before it could hit him.

As the two blades interlocked for the first time, Kuai could feel Kenshi pushing his weight behind Sento, trapping Kuai in his position. Thinking quickly, the cryomancer slid Frostbide against Sento's edge, sliding to the side as he spun away, jabbing defensively at Kenshi in case he tried to attack - the blind telepath jumped away, re-composing himself as he studied Kuai, who didn't move forward.

Kenshi pushed forward again, bringing Sento across his body this time - Kuai was able to easily block the strike with fluidity in his movements as Kenshi started to swipe Sento at him in all sorts of angles. Still, Kuai blocked every strike, taking a moment between Kenshi's strikes to give a few jabs of his own. Eventually, Kenshi was at the point where was done testing the waters; he started to attack Kuai with impressive speeds and accuracy.

Kuai kept his eyes on Kenshi, watching the path of Sento through his peripheral vision. _"One big mistake that people make in sword duels,"_ Hydro had said, _"is that they keep their eyes on the other's sword. This leaves them vulnerable to an attack from their opponent's other hand that isn't holding the sword. If you keep your eyes on the **person** , you can often see what they intend to do and where they intend to strike - with that, you can anticipate their attacks and save your energy."_

As Kuai sidestepped a forward jab to his gut, he stuck out his leg as he swept it across the ground, catching Kenshi off guard. The swordsman fell to the ground on his back - Kuai was on him in an instant, taking advantage of the opportunity as he held the point of the scabbard at Kenshi's neck, ending the fight.

Sareena clapped slowly from the stairs of the cabin while Li Mei cheered, throwing her arms in the air. Kuai gave them a brief smile of thanks before turning back to Kenshi.

The blind swordsman panted on the ground, nodding appreciatively up at Kuai when the cryomancer moved Frostbite away and offered his hand. As Kuai helped Kenshi onto his feet, the blind swordsman gave his opinion, "Your defenses are near-impenetrable; thankfully, we can just polish up on some additional techniques. However, I noticed that you're a _very_ defensive fighter. You never try to strike unless you have a definite opening. While it _is_ safer, it does sap at your strength. You should be trying to end the fight sooner. You have the strength, speed, and power to overpower most people easily. We'll have to start making you more aggressive."

Kuai grinned sheepishly. "My teacher told me the same thing; he eventually gave up on me because I couldn't push myself out of my own 'protective bubble,' is what he said."

Kenshi gave a bark of laughter, shaking his head. "Well, it looks like I have my work cut out for me, don't I? Come on, let's do it again. Keep Frostbite in the scabbard for now; tomorrow, we'll bring the blade out."

The sounds of metal-on-metal rang clearly through the air as the two were interlocked in their sparring again.

* * *

"Jesus Christ," Bi-Han grumbled as he rubbed his arms. "It's so _fucking_ cold."

"Perfectly suitable for a cryomancer," Frost snapped as her eyes scanned their surroundings of the village that they were in right now. This particular village was only a few miles from the northern-most part of the Aleutian Mountain Range where Kuai was thought to be. They had come to the village to ask if any of the people had seen unusual activity in the mountain range to solidify their beliefs and possibly narrow their search even further.

Hanzo couldn't help but agree with Bi-Han's statement - while Arctika, the place where the Lin Kuei resided - was usually colder than it was in Alaska, the howling winds that were blowing that day were dropping the temperature rapidly. He shivered as he stood, waiting for Harumi and Tomas to finish shopping for warm jackets as they tried to talk to the villagers.

Finally, his wife and Tomas emerged from a nearby shop, wearing winter jackets as they carried additional ones to the others. Frost rolled her eyes when the blue one was offered to her, but she took it anyway to keep up the guise of being a "normal human." Hanzo grabbed the white one, leaving Bi-Han to grab the black as they all drew the zippers up. 

"We asked around," Tomas spoke with a hushed tone in his grey jacket to not let anyone else overhear, "not a lot of people saw much, but a couple of fishermen who travel down the length of the peninsula say that they saw a huge animal flying over the top of Virgin Peak. It'll take forever for us to hike down there, but they said that they're willing to ferry us down there. They won't be sticking around to bring us back, though."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Hanzo said. "We have our teleportation devices - just as long as we find Kuai Liang, we will be able to use them to leave."

Harumi nodded with satisfaction, wrapping her red jacket around her shoulders. "They're taking off in thirty minutes. The ship is anchored at the harbor; if no one else needs anything else, we should start walking there."

They all strolled through the small village, navigating their way through the buildings until the structures disappeared. On the similarly small harbor, only a few boats were docked - Harumi led the group to the largest of the bunch, a nicely-sized motorboat with a top and lower deck. On the dock where the boat was anchored was an elderly man wearing glasses on his face. He looked up as the group approached him, grinning toothily.

"Jacob, my partner, bailed," he said in greeting, "He's scared about the thing - I'm interested and invested, though. I'll bring ya to the mountain, but you're gonna have to help."

Tomas and Frost shared a look.

Ignoring them, Harumi nodded once. "Thank you for doing this," she said as they all started to walk onboard in a single-file line. "Are you sure that you don't want any compensation?"

The old man waved her off. "Nah, I'm good. You folks looked like you needed some help - ya'll look really dejected, ya know? The least I could do was offer my help."

As they all stood on the deck, standing on one edge of the boat as they looked at the white scenery, the fisherman moved to the cabin where he put the boat in drive, propelling them forward across the cold water below. Hanzo looked over the edge, looking down at the point where the water hit the side of the boat. The water was spitting up as it made contact against the zooming boat, frothing and rolling tumultuously.

Resisting a shudder, Hanzo leaned away from the edge, joining the others who were sitting in folding chairs in the center of the deck. He sat next to Harumi, who rested her head against Hanzo's shoulder. Wordlessly, Hanzo wrapped his arm around her, holding her close. "Get some sleep," he told her softly. "We haven't slept in days - we'll need our strength to climb up the mountain if Kuai isn't at the base."

She sighed, shutting her eyes. "I hope he's okay. He's probably been through a lot these past couple of days."

"We all have," Hanzo replied as he watched Frost and Tomas fight over the extra chair while Bi-Han was already out, dead to the world. Eventually, Frost won the battle, snatching the chair from Tomas and raising it as if to hit him over the head. The enenra yelped, retreating to his one chair as Frost laid it out to rest her feet, shutting her eyes blissfully.

Finally, Hanzo breathed in deeply, letting his eyelids shut close as he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Kuai emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his face, the sweat from his training washed away. He pushed his soaked hair out of his eyes, grabbing a simple grey shirt and his jeans as he dressed, using the towel to shake the excess water out of his hair. 

The training had gone better than anyone had expected - Kuai was thankful that he had been training with it since childhood. Kenshi had ended the lesson when Kuai was starting to make more aggressive advances along with his nearly-impeccable defenses, which Kenshi slipped through only once today. The blind telepath had been satisfied with his progress, informing Kuai that they would continue tomorrow, which the cryomancer had been expecting.

He walked out of the room with Frostbite strapped to his back - the sword offered a sense of comfort and protection to Kuai, making him feel more relaxed in this unfamiliar environment. He passed by Sareena and Li Mei in the living room downstairs, sitting near the fireplace as they moved game pieces across the board. Kuai grinned at the sight. "Are you two finally friends, now?"

"Oh, _definitely_ not," Sareena said, but Kuai could clearly hear the amusement and good-humored nature in her voice. "She _cheats._ Blatantly, with no shame _whatsoever."_

Li Mei laughed loudly, tilting her head back. "If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying hard enough, girl."

Kuai left the two as they started to bicker in a friendly manner, heading outside again as he stared up to the sky. He had something else that he wanted to try. Putting his fingers in his mouth, he whistled shrilly, receiving a distant roar in reply. Slowly, three shapes in the sky started to become more definitive as the dragons flew to their father, landing with a large impact on the ground as they lowered their heads to get closer to Kuai.

Nox bounded over from the trees, trampling a couple as she sat behind the dragons, patiently waiting for her turn. Kuai was laughing as Snow nuzzled his side while Tundra's tail flicked Storm accidentally, prompting the grumpy dragon to snap once at his goofy younger brother.

"They're beautiful creatures," Taven acknowledged as he walked over to Kuai with Nightwolf close behind. The shaman extended his hand up to Nox, who studied him with a tilted head and one ear raised before giving in to cuddles. Nightwolf chuckled at this, petting her head and scratching the area behind her ears. "She's very friendly for a direwolf," he said in his deep voice. "You raised her well; you raised them all well."

"Have you ridden one of them, yet?" Taven asked curiously, looking up at Storm's narrowed eyes, as a cloud of cold air shot out of his nostrils. 

"I haven't had the chance," Kuai said, looking up at Snow. "I was actually hoping to try that today, but I'm scared of flying."

Nightwolf left Nox to join Kuai and Taven, looking up at the dragons. "It is no different than riding a horse," he explained, continuing to stare into Tundra's dopey eyes. "The only difference is that you do not have the luxury of a saddle. Have you ridden bareback, before?"

Kuai coughed, remembering his days in the Lin Kuei when he was fifteen. "Actually, yes. It was kind of a pressing situation, but it wasn't too difficult." Actually, what had happened was that he had been sent on a mission. He had stolen a precious object from a village but was seen. Trying to get away, Kuai had run into the stables where he got onto the back of one of the sleeping horses, waking it up as it took off.

_It was - admittedly - not one of the most dignifying moments of his life._

Nightwolf nodded up at Snow, who was shaking some snow off of her back. "Climb on, then. Guiding her through the air requires only the smallest pressure on the side you wish her to turn."

"Easier said than done," Kuai spoke dryly, looking up at how tall Snow was. "How do I get on her back in the first place?"

"Walk up on her wing," Taven responded, speaking quickly at Kuai's shocked look of outrage. "It won't hurt her; the wings have the most thickened skin and your weight won't press down on the wings at all. She'll be fine."

Kuai had a look of doubt on his face, but nevertheless, he started to walk to Snow's left wing, placing his hand on it gently. "I apologize in advance if something goes wrong," Kuai said to her as she turned her head around to look at him. Slowly and carefully, Kuai placed his feet on the wing as he started to walk up. Snow didn't seem to react at all - she only stared at Kuai as he walked up as if to make sure that he wouldn't fall.

When he got to the point where the wing was bent, Kuai raised both hands up to place them over the edge, lifting himself up to hoist himself over the wing. When he looked at Snow to see if she was in pain, she still didn't react - she only continued to stare at the cryomancer with knowing eyes. Finally, Kuai found himself standing on her back as he was directed by Nightwolf to a junction in front of the place where the wings attached to Snow's body. 

"Now what?" Kuai asked, shouting slightly so that he could be heard. Storm and Tundra were watching from the sidelines with their heads tilted curiously. Snow continued to remain calm, moving gently so that Kuai wouldn't fall over. He shook off the dread that was settling in his stomach at the thought of flying, trying to focus on the excitement of flying on a dragon.

"Give her a signal to tell her to fly!" Taven shouted up. "After making the gesture, give the command! As time passes, you won't need to say the command when she gets used to the gesture!"

Turning to look at Snow's back, Kuai huffed, thinking to himself. Finally, he hesitantly took his hand, patting the side of her neck in front of him gently. He did this three times, speaking normally as he told her to fly. For a moment, she didn't react at all.

Then, without warning, she spread her wings widely to their full wingspan, moving them closer to her body as she started to lift off of the ground. Kuai yelped, wrapping his arms around her neck as she took off vertically into the air. After reaching a certain altitude, she started to ascend at a slight angle into the air, letting Kuai loosen his grip slightly. The takeoff had been startling, but he was starting to calm down now, shutting his eyes tightly as the wind whipped past his face.

He buried his neck into Snow's back, letting the wind rush through his hair. He didn't want to look up at that moment. However, after a short period of time, the wind started to die down in speed, and he slowly lifted up his head, gasping at the sight.

Snow was gliding above the clouds, flapping her wings every now-and-then to stay up. Kuai couldn't see anything past the clouds (which he was slightly thankful for), and he looked up at the sky, which was darker up there. Off to the side, Tundra and Storm followed their sister, chirruping at Kuai in greeting as he looked back toward them.

Kuai laughed in disbelief, starting to enjoy the experience as the wind gently flew past him. Testing his ability, Kuai applied minimal pressure to Snow's left side. Immediately, she responded, turning gently to the left as she turned. When Kuai removed the pressure, she flew straight. Kuai tested the right, applying slightly more pressure on her starboard flank. She responded in kind, turning more to the right at the additional pressure. 

Letting her fly on her own, Kuai closed his eyes as he enjoyed the sensation of flying through the sky. He could get used to this - the wind flowing past him as he looked up to the scenery of the sky that not a lot of people could see from the ground.

Snow purred as if sensing his comfort and happiness, trilling softly as she turned softly to the left, heading back to the cabin.

* * *

_Hanzo was standing in the snow, but he could immediately tell that he wasn't in Alaska anymore._

_He looked around, squinting his eyes through the falling snow. It blinded his vision, making it impossible to see anything through the precipitation. He slowly walked forward through the snow, pushing his feet through the sludge. He didn't know why he was there, but he had a dreadful feeling in his stomach that caused him to push onwards._

_Suddenly, the snow stopped. It disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Hanzo found himself standing in front of a tree that was rooted on the edge of an icy cliff that dropped down suddenly. With a sinking feeling, Hanzo lifted a hand as he reached toward the lowest-hanging branch on the tree._

_He rubbed the blue cloth that was tied to the branch between his fingers, fear replacing the dread._

_Looking around the tree, Hanzo walked to the edge where Kuai had once led him, telling him his story about his plunge into the river below. The Shirai Ryu looked down to the river in a repeat of what he had done last time._

_Instead of the water running black, the river was blood red. It may have been lava, had it not been for the fact that it was not glowing - on the contrary, it was a dark red and looked like blood. The sight of the red water made Hanzo's heart race._

_Slowly, he looked up to the cliff on the other side of the river. His breath caught at the sight of Kuai Liang from the other side. He sitting on the edge, staring blankly at the water below. He seemed to be transfixed - whether he was looking at something in the water or the water itself, Hanzo didn't know. Much to his alarm, however, he saw Kuai start to shift forward, tensing his body as he prepared to fall off the edge._

_"KUAI!" Hanzo shouted desperately, trying to get the cryomancer's attention._

_His voice seemed to have an impact on Kuai, as the cryomancer shook his head in confusion, the dazed look in his eyes fading. He slowly looked up, seeing Hanzo on the other edge. He smiled at Hanzo, but it had a bittersweetness behind it that was also reflected in his eyes._

_"We're all meant to die at one point," Kuai said in a hushed whisper, staring directly at Hanzo. While he had whispered from the other side, the sound was loud - as if Kuai was whispering the words directly into Hanzo's ear._

_Then, the water below started to bubble as a monster emerged from the bottom. A large black serpent with red eyes and pure black pupils emerged from the water, screeching loudly. Hanzo fell back in shock as Kuai didn't move, the monster's tail whipping wildly; it wrapped around behind Kuai, sweeping forward to hit Kuai's back and push him over the edge._

_"NO!" Hanzo shouted, rushing forward as he landed on his stomach with his head sticking over the edge to watch helplessly as Kuai fell with wide, scared eyes until he disappeared from view into the blood-red water below._

_The whole time, the serpent was laughing, the raspy sounds echoing in Hanzo's head._

With a gasp, Hanzo woke up with a start, causing Harumi to flinch as she woke up as well. She looked at Hanzo with a worried look in her eyes, gripping onto his hand. "Another nightmare?" she asked, searching his face.

Hanzo exhaled deeply, calming himself as he turned to face his wife. He hesitated in his answer, eventually settling on giving her a nod. "The usual ones," he lied through his teeth. He didn't want to worry her any more than she had to; besides, it had only been a dream, _right?_

The three Lin Kuei were already awake, leaning over the right edge of the boat as it sailed towards an island that made up Alaska's peninsula. Hanzo got up, shaking the aftereffects of the dream as he and Harumi moved to join them, the group looking up at the mountain.

"It's not that big, is it?" Harumi noted.

"We'll be able to easily search the area," Bi-Han nodded in confirmation. "We stick together as a group; make sure that everyone is safe."

Finally, the boat was anchored next to the land, and the fisherman went out of the cabin of the boat to say goodbye. "Welp, this is it," he said, looking at the mountain. "I hope you find whatever it is that you're looking for."

With a chorus of thanks, the group descended from the boat, standing on the shore as they watched the fisherman sail away. Hanzo turned to look around the area - there was no sign of anyone living at the base of the mountain. He tilted his head upwards, taking in the mountain as he reached behind him, ensuring that his swords were still sheathed underneath his large winter jacket.

Bi-Han took the lead, walking toward the mountain as the group followed after him. Slowly, they began to ascend the mountain, pushing through the snow fallen on the ground in a similar manner that Hanzo had done in his waking nightmare. He shook off the dark dream from his mind, focusing his attention on his surroundings as he tried to look for any sight of the cryomancer.

They had been walking along for about two hours, taking short breaks in between, when Bi-Han saw something in the distance. "I see smoke," the oldest Lin Kuei called out behind him so that the group could hear him.

"I know you can see _me,_ dumbass," Tomas called back cheekily.

Bi-Han, Hanzo, and Frost shot the enenra their own dirty looks while Harumi sighed, shaking her head exasperatedly. "I wasn't talking about _you,_ idiot," Bi-Han hissed through clenched teeth. "I _said_ that there is smoke up ahead, most likely from a fire. It's a few more miles up the mountain - we should make it in another hour."

Hanzo looked up to the sky, seeing that the sun was right above their heads. It was still the early afternoon, which meant that they would be able to easily make the climb to the smoke before it got dark. "Let's go," he urged to Bi-Han in front of him. 

They continued in their process of walking up the mountain; Tomas was talking loudly as they pushed forward. "I'm so tired, guys. Can't we stop for a break?"

Frost shut her eyes tightly as she tried to drown out the noise while Harumi spoke firmly, "When we're halfway there, we can take a short ten-minute break, alright?"

Tomas whined pathetically. "This fucking sucks, guys. My feet are fucking cold AND sore. How are you guys not hurting right now?"

"I'll make you hurt a _lot_ more," Bi-Han growled, "if you don't SHUT UP. We will stop halfway and ONLY once we are halfway there. GOT IT?!"

This got the enenra to shut his mouth, and Hanzo reveled in the newfound peace and quiet that had graced the group as they continued to trek upwards.

"..."

"Do you think there'll be hot chocolate waiting for us?"

"Right, THAT'S IT!!!" Bi-Han roared as he spun on his heel in the snow, tackling Tomas to the ground as Hanzo quickly stepped to the side, giving Bi-Han a clear shot.

Harumi and Frost shared a long-suffering look as Hanzo moved to try and separate the two, rolling around in the snow.

* * *

After separating the two from their fight, they had continued in their search, and Hanzo could finally start to see the black smoke rising in a column in the air. 

As they approached the source of the smoke, Hanzo noted that the smoke trail looked... odd. It rose up in a single column, which was highly unlikely for the smoke to do so if it had been coming from a campfire - the smoke would be more spread out if that had been the case. Instead, it looked like it was rising from a column that gave it its shape - like a chimney.

As they walked over a ledge, the five people came to a stop as they saw the log cabin that had been set into the side of the mountain. Although Hanzo had caught onto the odd shape of the smoke, he was still taken aback by the sight of a large cabin that was positioned in the mountain. He turned to the others who were still staring at it with astonishment. "Come on," he said, "let's go and see if Kuai is inside."

This time, Hanzo was the one who led the way to the door of the cabin. He looked at the ground, seeing fresh footprints in the snow as well as large indents in the snow - probably from the dragons and the direwolf. He came to a stop at the door, quickly raising his hand to give three sharp raps on the door.

After a short second, the door swung open to reveal an unfamiliar man in decorative armor with a sandwich in his hand. "I swear to the Elder Gods, how many times are you going to forget that there's no lock..." He paused, looking at the five people on the doorstep as the sandwich fell out of his hands to the floor. "You're not Li Mei," he said dumbly.

"We're looking for a friend," Harumi explained, pushing from the back of the group to step forward. "His name is Kuai; we have reason to believe that he's in danger. Have you seen him around here?"

"Uhh," the man said, looking between the people with wide eyes. "Kuai Liang? Nope, I haven't heard of him. Why?"

"You said his last name," Bi-Han pointed out accusingly.

"What the hell are you doing, Taven?" a female voice spoke from inside the cabin. A woman with raven black hair that stopped at her shoulders came to the door. In her hair were white accents, and she also stared at the group.

Hanzo noted that she subtly lowered a hand to the knife on her belt.

"Sareena?!" Bi-Han spoke in a choked voice, gaping at the woman. "How did you escape the Netherrealm?"

She glared at him in response. "No thanks to you, that's how. I helped Raiden escape from the Netherrealm when he got lost - he gave me this human body, and I've been living in Earthrealm for the past decade."

Tomas shook his head. "Jesus, Bi-Han. How many women are you going to upset?"

"Stop letting the cold air in, dammit!" Kenshi appeared in the doorway, and Hanzo's eyes widened at the sight of him. "Just let them in; we have a lot to catch up on."

The door was opened wider, inviting Hanzo and his group inside. After the door was shut, he removed his jacket once he felt the heat from the fireplace soaking into his body. In the living room near the fire were another unknown woman and Nightwolf sitting in separate armchairs. They looked up to meet Hanzo's gaze as they studied the newcomers with unreadable expressions on their faces. 

"That's Li Mei and Nightwolf," Kenshi introduced the others, pointing out the people. "You've already met Taven and Sareena here."

"Great," Frost said, crossing her arms. "Where's my Sifu?"

"Why are you looking for Kuai Liang?" Li Mei snapped back testily in return. "Do you want to keep him trapped when it's all over?"

Kenshi strode over to Li Mei, whispering something inaudible to Hanzo in her ear. Her eyes widened for a short second before she composed herself, looking back at the group silently.

"Kuai is safe," Kenshi spoke, gesturing at the empty seats in a silent offer. "He's off with his dragons right now; he should be returning shortly. When I brought him here, I had intended to keep him away from you and the other members of the Forces of Light. However, the situation has changed; he no longer appears to have any reluctance in accepting who he is as a warrior. I also misjudged his character, and thus, it is not important to keep you separated from him."

"We need to work together," Nightwolf agreed, sitting up in his chair. "As you probably know already, we have acquired a weapon that may be able to kill the serpent, should it get to that point. The sword, Frostbite, belongs to Kuai Liang. He will have to use the sword to kill the serpent if his blood is spilled before the blood moon - Kenshi has begun training him with the sword today."

"He knows how to wield a sword," Tomas said, frowning. "He was trained as a child and finished with mastery!"

"He told me a different story," Kenshi said, crossing his arms. "He said that his teacher couldn't get him to attack more aggressively - he only used the sword to defend himself and strike whenever there was an opening. I'm touching up his defenses and getting him to take initiative with his strikes. He's made excellent progress today; I have no doubt that he will achieve true mastery of the blade soon."

Li Mei, who had moved to the window of the cabin and looked outside, turned to the others. "He's coming back. Shall we all go out to welcome him back, then?"


	6. The Return of the Cyromancer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuai Liang returns to the cabin where he discovers that there are guests waiting for him.

Kuai Liang descended on Snow's back from the skies, squinting his eyes as the wind started to dry his eyes. 

They had been flying for hours - Kuai had completely lost track of the time with the freedom he felt in the sky. However, when the sky started to darken, reality caught up to him and he urged Snow to return to the cabin where the others were no doubt worrying about him. Snow chittered at her brothers, communicating with them as the cabin finally came into view. 

From the distance that Kuai was at, the only thing he could see was the cabin - a tiny speck in the white snow-covered mountain. However, as they flew closer, he could begin to make out other shapes; slowly, Nox came into view. She was at first a small black dot in Kuai's vision that slowly came into focus as they got closer. As the dragons started to descend in unison, circling in the sky around the cabin, Kuai could see the cabin door open.

He focused his attention on landing safely, bracing for impact as Snow finally landed on the soft, plush ground with the snow to cushion the impact. Grinning wildly at the exhilaration of the ride, Kuai slid down the dragon's extended wing, knowing now that she wouldn't be bothered by his weight. She made an inquisitive sound as Kuai landed on his feet in the snow, the sound making a dull crunching sound as she rotated her head and neck to see him. Once she made sure he was safe and sound, she snorted - a cloud of cold air rising from her nostrils - as she started to walk away on her legs to join her brothers who were wrestling in the snow.

Finally, Kuai turned around to face the others. It was only at this moment that Kuai realized that more people were standing outside than there should have been.

He froze in place, staring with wide eyes at the newcomers.

"Sifu!" Frost said, pushing from the back of the group as she ran to him, pulling the cryomancer into a hug. "It's been so long; with the recent events, I was worried about you. I'm glad to see that you're okay."

He patted her back absentmindedly, staring at Bi-Han with a look of absolute shock. "Uh-huh," he said, not really paying attention to what she was saying.

"How are you, Kuai?" Harumi asked hesitantly, walking forward slowly as she tried to be gentle with him. "How have you been feeling these last few days?"

"Uh-huh," he repeated, shifting from staring at Bi-Han to Hanzo with those wide eyes.

Hanzo tried to not let the hurt look show on his face.

Frost stepped back, taking in her teacher's expression. "We're here to help," she said softly, holding up her hands in a peaceful gesture. "When you left, everyone was depressed and sad. They all regret doing the things that they did, but we're here to try and make amends, starting with helping you."

"Yeah," Kuai said, shaking his head slowly as he shook off the confusion. "You know... actually, I have... something..." he blabbered, moving _around_ the group who was standing in front of the house as he tried to walk backward and away from them. "There's uh... something that Storm is trying to... show me," he drifted off, looking at Kenshi who facepalmed.

"Maybe we should talk," Taven said slowly yet firmly, striding to where Kuai was and placing his hands on the cryomancer's shoulders. Keeping a firm grip, he started to steer Kuai toward the house, marching him toward the door.

* * *

"It's good to see you again, Kuai," Harumi spoke from the armchair.

Kuai was leaning against the wall, staring out the window uncomfortably. Kenshi, Nightwolf, Taven, Sareena, and Li Mei had left the others alone to talk, locking themselves in their bedrooms upstairs. The fire crackling was the only sound in the room, the shadows it cast dancing on the walls. Kuai shifted under the weight of the looks he was getting, still not making eye-contact.

"You didn't give me a chance to say goodbye," Harumi continued. "I understand that you had your reasons. It's just... Your sudden disappearance scared us."

"Sorry," Kuai said, sounding genuine. "That wasn't my intent." Still, he refused to look at any of them.

Harumi glared at Hanzo, mouthing _"Say something!"_ to him silently.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Kuai," Hanzo spoke, slowly walking toward the cryomancer. "We all were horrible to you that day, but that wasn't true for our friendship. It started a long time ago. I don't think that we were fully able to let go of our rivalry; because you were a giver and I was a taker, our friendship was strained. I know that you probably have plans to return to the life you made for yourself in New York, but I just wanted to apologize. I could have been a better friend; I _should_ have been." He finished solemnly, staring down at the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Kuai," Tomas said through tears. "I... I can't even speak right now, but I missed you so much. I hated myself with every passing day that you were gone, and I thought that I would never see you again. I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I was glad when this whole 'end of the world' thing started because it gave me an excuse to see you."

"And I should have known better than to say those things to you," Bi-Han spoke from another corner of the room, hidden in the shadows. His voice was trembling slightly; perhaps if there were people who didn't know him better, they wouldn't have picked up on the tremor. "I was angry - but that's not an excuse at all. I pushed you away, and I only have myself to blame for that. But everything I said that day was wrong, Kuai. You are better than I ever could have been, and I never want you to change unless it makes you happy."

Hanzo had been slowly walking toward Kuai the whole time and was now standing right next to him. Kuai continued to stare out the window blankly, and Hanzo gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you don't want us here," the Shirai Ryu spoke, "just say the word, and we'll go. You seem to be safe with Kenshi and Nightwolf and the others - we'll leave you alone."

Finally, Kuai turned around quickly, wrapping his arms around Hanzo's neck as he buried his face in the Shirai Ryu's shoulder. The cryomancer's shoulders were shaking slightly, and Hanzo could feel his shirt getting wet. "Goddamnit," Kuai muttered loud enough for everyone else to hear, "I wanted to be so fucking mad at you, you asshole, but I wasn't. I couldn't bring myself to be angry; I just missed you guys."

Hanzo, in one of those rare moments of his life, was struggling to not cry as well. The nightmare he had, combined with the realization of how long Kuai had been gone, was making him emotional. "I'm sorry," he said simply, letting go of Kuai as he took a step back, keeping his hands on Kuai's upper arms. Kuai wordlessly wiped his eyes, taking a deep breath as he nodded, finally looking up to Hanzo with kind brown eyes as he smiled gently and warmly. 

Then, he drew his hand back and drove it into Hanzo's face.

Hanzo stumbled back, clutching his nose with his hands as blood started to pour out. "Oh, _shit,"_ Kuai hissed, walking to Hanzo as he reached out to him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit that hard," he said, wincing as Hanzo removed his hand from his face. 

The Shirai Ryu waved him off. "You're fine; it wasn't anything I didn't deserve."

Harumi was giggling from her spot in the armchair as Frost was cackling at the scared expressions on Bi-Han's and Tomas's faces, pointing a finger at their direction. Kuai turned around slowly, giving a shit-eaten grin in both of their directions. "Well?" he asked innocently. "Aren't you going to give me a hug?"

"Aww, _shit,"_ Tomas groaned, nodding several times. "I deserve this; might as well get this over with." He walked across the room quickly, pulling a surprised Kuai into his arms as he gave his own hug, tensing for the hit. 

Kuai had his arms wrapped around his childhood friend's neck, snorting into Tomas's shoulder as he could feel how tense the enenra was. Huffing, Tomas sighed. "Just get it over with, already." 

The cryomancer stepped back with an arched brow. "Why? What did you do to me?"

"I undermined your confidence!" Tomas exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air as he started to believe that Kuai was going to let him go without a hit.

Kuai ducked down slightly, driving his elbow into Tomas's gut, forcing the breath out of the man. He wheezed, clutching his stomach as he fell to the floor. "I know," Kuai said, nodding down to Tomas as he recovered, "I just wanted to get you to stop anticipating it; it's not fun when you do that. Besides, did you really think that you were getting away with it, especially after what I did to Hanzo?"

"Fuck you," the Shirai Ryu said stuffily, plugging his nose as he spoke.

Kuai turned to face Bi-Han, who was trying to press himself up against the wall as best as he could; he seemed to be trying to blend in with the shadows. Nevertheless, Kuai easily found him, grinning as he opened his arms in an invitation.

Groaning, Bi-Han dragged a hand down his face. "I forgot how much of a little shit you are," he grumbled, but Hanzo could hear the amusement and fondness behind his voice. Sighing, he walked into Kuai's arms, hugging him tightly. Harumi let out a soft "aww" at the sight as Bi-Han closed his eyes.

"You and I both know that this is the only way you'd be able to hit me, anyway," Bi-Han muttered into Kuai's ear. 

"That's not true, and you know it," Kuai said snarkily. "Then again, who said I was going to punch you?"

Bi-Han leaned back in confusion, holding Kuai at arm's length. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kuai drew up his knee, connecting it to the sensitive no-no spot between his older brother's legs.

Hanzo winced sympathetically, cringing at the sight.

"OH, SHIT!!!" Tomas yelped, covering his mouth with one hand while the other covered his own sensitive spot. "Holy shit, Kuai! Don't you want to have nieces and nephews someday?"

Bi-Han let out a noise that was akin to a leaking helium balloon, falling to the ground in agony. 

Kuai crowed, grinning with glee as he turned towards the others. "Now I understand why women do this; it's so _invigorating."_

Frost was dying, rolling on the floor in laughter.

Harumi was laughing now, not trying to hide her amusement as she walked up to Kuai and hugged him. "It's good to see you."

There was a brief comfortable silence.

"Stop that," Kuai chided. "You're squeezing the tears out of my eyes, and you know it."

* * *

Those who had been upstairs finally joined the people downstairs once they heard the raucous laughter.

When they all got to the bottom floor, they took in the sight of Kuai talking with his friends in the living room. He was waving his hands animatedly as he described what had happened to him the past few days while Hanzo, Bi-Han, or Frost would interject to tell them what they were doing at the time, crossing stories.

"It's good to see that you're all friends again," Nightwolf said amiably as he walked forward to join them.

Kuai looked up, grinning happily. There was a sparkle in his eyes that wasn't there before - _he truly was happy,_ Kenshi thought to himself. "I was telling them what I went through," Kuai explained, smirking at Bi-Han who was still shifting in his seat in pain. "And we talked."

Li Mei giggled at the sight as she shared a look with Sareena; the two women could clearly tell what had happened with the way that Bi-Han was behaving.

"Before you got here," Taven spoke, "we were talking together, and we agreed that if you weren't still upset with them that we would go back to Raiden and the others by tonight. Is that alright with you?"

Kuai nodded rapidly, grinning enthusiastically. "I can't wait to go back home," he said, standing up as he walked toward the stairs. "Let me go gather my things so that we can leave." With that, he took off up the stairs, skipping steps as he disappeared upstairs.

Kenshi chuckled at his childish behavior, turning to the others. "Well, that's the Kuai Liang I knew," he said amusedly.

Harumi stood up from her seat, ushering Frost to take her armchair. "I'm going to let Raiden know that we found Kuai and will be returning soon. I'll let him tell the others to return to the Sky Temple," she said, walking away with her phone out.

Sareena was glaring at Bi-Han, who didn't seem to notice that she was. Hanzo did, however, but _he_ wasn't going to say anything. He was an expert now in getting caught up in conflicts that he shouldn't have - the prime example being the conflict between the two Sub-Zero brothers. 

The demoness slowly stalked over to Bi-Han, walking behind the armchair he was sitting in. It was only there that he finally took notice of her, flinching as she leaned in closer. "So, you look well," she noted, a dangerous lilt to her voice.

"Please," Bi-Han nearly _whimpered,_ sinking into his seat. "Whatever you do to me, just don't hit me _down there."_

Hanzo had to turn away to stop himself from laughing.

"When I'm through with you," Sareena said, facing the man directly, "you'll be _begging_ me to just hit you in the balls."

"Alright," Nightwolf cautioned her, going up to her to pull her back. "Let's not cause our comrades any more injury; save it until after the blood moon. There will be much more time after for us to live our lives peacefully at that point." In a sudden afterthought, Nightwolf looked down to Bi-Han. "Well, for most of us, anyway."

Sareena shot a spiteful glare at Bi-Han as Kuai ran back down the stairs, his duffel bag swung behind his back while he held Frostbite in his hand. "I'm ready to leave," he announced, hoisting the bag up higher on his shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"The Sky Temple," Tomas replied. "The Special Forces base fell about a week ago - the Sky Temple is our new temporary base of operations. Do you know the coordinates?"

"I'm not using the watch," Kuai spoke, looking outside briefly. "I have to bring my dragons and direwolf with me - I'll use my powers. Don't worry, I've been to the Sky Temple before, and I've been practicing a little bit."

Taven nodded. "Alright. Is everyone ready to leave?" When he got nods in response as Harumi rejoined them, the warrior inputted the coordinates into his watch as the others followed his lead. The cabin was engulfed with a bright light as they disappeared.

Meanwhile, Kuai had stepped outside and had called out for his pets. As they congregated around him, Nox licked his face before he lifted a fist into the sky, and they all disappeared in a flash of brilliant blue light, abandoning the cabin.

* * *

Kuai stumbled in the landing, the act of going from the cabin to the Sky Temple making him slightly dizzy. He found himself crouched on the cobblestone paths leading to the Sky Temple. The rain soaked his face as he started to walk toward the building, not minding the water. Looking up to the sky, he could make out the shapes of his three dragons beyond the dark clouds, soaring and gliding in the sky.

Nox whimpered, tucking her tail between her legs as her ears flattened themselves against her head. She whined when lightning flashed in the sky and yelped when the resulting thunder rumbled loudly. Kuai sympathetically pet her head, dragging his hand through her wet fur as he tried to comfort her, slowly leading her to the Sky Temple doors. He frowned when he saw the size of the door, which was clearly not large enough for Nox to enter. Remembering the size of the Jinsei Chamber inside, he held onto Nox as he teleported again.

Now, Kuai was standing in the large space of the Jinsei Chamber, the energy offering a light that illuminated the entire room. Kuai looked to Nox, his eyes widening in alarm as she braced herself. "No, no!" Kuai warned, moving forward in an attempt to stop her.

It was too late; the direwolf shook the water off of herself, sending droplets of water flying everywhere in the room. Kuai sputtered, wiping the water off of his face with his hands as he looked up to glare at Nox. She only panted happily, oblivious to her father's disappointment, as her tail thumped against the wall repeatedly.

At that moment, the only doors to the Chamber opened, and Raiden stepped inside. His eyes widened, taking in the sight of a near-fully-grown direwolf lying on her back in his sacred Jinsei Chamber. Kuai coughed awkwardly. "Sorry," he said, avoiding Raiden's gaze. "The storm was scaring her, but the front door was too small for her to enter through; I brought her here. Sorry about the water."

"RAIDEN!" Fujin's voice called out from the hallway leading to the Jinsei Chamber as footsteps drew closer. "The others are worried sick; did you - oh, you found him," Fujin sighed in relief, seeing Kuai and Nox in the Jinsei Chamber. He ignored the mess, walking forward to greet Kuai with a friendly nod. "It's good to have you back, Kuai Liang."

Kuai chuckled sheepishly. "I don't think that Raiden's too happy with me right now," he admitted.

Fujin only now saw the mess but waved a dismissing hand in response. "It's not a problem," he reassured the cryomancer, and with a simple wave of his hand, a gust of wind flew throughout the room to dry the water on the walls, returning the room to its pristine state. Kuai blinked, looking down at his uniform, which was now also dry.

"Come on," Fujin encouraged, gesturing with his hand. "Let me bring you to the others so that we can ease their anxiety. Then, I'll show you to your room so that you can sleep. Nox is welcome to stay in the Chamber."

Kuai followed after the Wind God as Raiden finally snapped out of his trance, walking behind Kuai. "We were all worried for you," Fujin said as he led Kuai through the halls. "You disappeared that day without a word and left a hole in the team. The others should be returning soon, but it is late. You should rest and recover your energy for the greetings tomorrow."

They walked into the large central room of the Sky Temple where Kuai could see his friends waiting for them. Their anxious looks and stances immediately shifted to ones of relaxation and relief when they saw Kuai walk into the room accompanied by Raiden and Fujin. 

"Where the hell were you?" Bi-Han asked grumpily as Kuai joined them. "You were starting to worry me."

"Sorry," Kuai apologized sincerely. "I didn't want to teleport my dragons into the Sky Temple, so I appeared outside. Nox got scared of the lightning and thunder, so I had to bring her inside. The door wasn't big enough for her to walk through, so I had to improvise. I teleported again into the Jinsei Chamber, but..." he trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "She kind of... started to shake all the water off of her?"

Tomas snorted. "I can't imagine that Raiden was too happy with you."

"I wasn't," Raiden established.

"There's nothing to worry about," Fujin said in a placating tone. "The Chamber has been cleaned up. The most important thing is that everyone got back safe and sound. Now that everyone is here, let me escort you to your rooms." He walked off towards one of the hallways connected to the room they were in, and Kuai followed after the Elder God of Wind, feeling the exhaustion hit his body.

After a brief tour on the way to the dorms, Kuai was shown to his single room. He was quick to enter and lock the door behind him, making sure to say "goodnight" to the others as he walked to the bed. He threw his duffel bag into the open closet lackadaisically - it skidded across the floor and didn't come close to reaching the closet.

Huffing, Kuai didn't make an attempt to fix the bag. He stripped himself of the armor he was wearing until he was in his underclothes, falling into the bed as he shut his eyes. He didn't know what would happen tomorrow when the others came back, but he was sure that no matter what happened, everything would turn out fine.


End file.
